Emerald Crisis--Final Fantasy VII--
by RedWhaleStories
Summary: Six years after Meteor Fall, the W.R.O. has established a new world government. Controlling the distribution of Materia, they form the Hunters, whose job is to stop Materia related crimes from smuggling to violence. With her flare for theatrics, it is decided that Yuffie Kisaragi should work within this group, but when a rebellion begins, she must decide who she can trust.
1. Tutorial

**Final Fantasy VII**

The Emerald Crisis

Midgar Ruins: Outskirts\

Yuffie sat atop a hill in the wasteland and stared across the vast, dusty expanse. The ruins of Midgar were a dark shape in the night, distinct but without definition. She had her binoculars set for night-vision, but even still could hardly see anything in the green haze. With a sigh, she sat back and pressed a button on the holographic display of her armguard. "Can't see a damn thing in there. You're sure it's tonight?"

"Yes." Shelke's voice came in clear through the speaker in Yuffie's ear.

"Then I need to get closer, because I can't see a damn thing." Yuffie stood. It was a moonless, starless night, and she dressed in a dark suit meant to blend. She clipped the binoculars onto the belt about her waist and picked up her weapon, a large four-point shuriken she calls "Conformer," and slipped it into the sling across her back.

"Be careful, Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Okay, mom." She hopped from the hill where she was perched and started her approach toward the city. Yuffie travelled by foot, a rarity in that day and age. Monsters still roamed the Midgar wastes. Rumors had it that they were escaped experiments from old Shinra testing facilities that have long been forgotten. Yuffie honestly never gave it much thought.

"And for the record, how many of them are there supposed to be?"

"It was in the mission report."

"Let's just pretend that I didn't read it," Yuffie said. Midgar appeared in finer detail, the darkness giving way to somber greys and broken rubble. A chain link fence rattled under her feet as she hopped from it, onto a broken ledge, and onto a fractured pillar before landing on the city street beyond them. "Let's just pretend I never read them."

"There will be five men in total, two buyers, two dealers. The first meeting should start in exactly five minutes and thirty-eight seconds. I am sending the location to you. Will you arrive on time?"

Yuffie checked the holographic interface again and pulled up the map. She smiled. "I'll be fine. I'm not far off now."

Midgar's interior was twisted steel and stone wrapped in shadows. Buildings and debris were scattered around her. Sometimes, when she was bored on an assignment, she liked to take the pieces in her mind and try to fit them together, like a jigsaw puzzle. At that moment, she preferred to hop over them.

"You should worry more about them showing up?"

"In all of our records you're the only person who has ever been late to one of these deals."

"Cold, Shelke." Yuffie hopped over a broken crane and landed quietly on the other side. She sprinted and leaped, flatting her body as she glided between two sheets of jagged steel. "Weapons?"

"Yes. And materia."

"You think they would use their product?"

"Materia drains the energy of the one it is attuned to, not the energy of the stone."

"Right, right. Now that I think about it, materia that's been used synchs faster, doesn't it? So, I guess they could technically charge more."

"Technically, though few people who move materia illegally understand the intricacies of its use."

"Which is why they will always be small-fries."

"You have your equipment, right?"

Yuffie dropped down off of a high way painted with graffiti and rolled to a stop. She sprinted across the rooftop she was on and leapt to another nearby. "I've got enough. Don't worry so much. They're just a couple of thugs. What are they going to do me? I mean, I did help fight Sephiroth and everything."

"Records state you were in the city during the final battle with Sephiroth."

"I meant in spirit. I was there in spirit." Yuffie dropped down and slid to a halt behind a nearby ledge. "Now, hush, I see them." She peeked her head out long enough to get a head count. Shelke was right, two cars meeting in the dark, their headlights the only thing to see by. Three men on one side, two on the other. The three wore suits and brought back bad memories for Yuffie. The two that were buying were just regular street toughs.

"Buying from the big guys and using it for their games." Yuffie shook her head. "Kids these days."

"Please, maintain radio silence, Yuffie Kisaragi. You must confirm the sale before you can make the arrest."

"You maintain radio silence." Yuffie yawned. "Besides, there's no way they're not selling." She stood.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm bored. And their faces just look so punchable."

"Hold position, Yuffie Kisaragi. You must confirm the sale before..."

"Possession of materia without a permit is against the law, anyway. You really think they have a the paperwork signed for the stuff they're peddling?"

"Hold."

"Sorry? What? Can't hear you, Shelke. You're cutting out here." Yuffie tapped her bracer and put Shelke on silent. Then, she dive from the building and landed on the soft earth below.

The five talked, shouting nonsense that Yuffie barely hears out. Then, the suits went back to their car and pulled a chest from the trunk. They carried it out into the light and opened the lid, pulling a shining red sphere from inside. It caught the light as they displayed it, and then they tossed it to one of the toughs.

The toughs looked it over, trading it between them. They talked among themselves and approached the three suits cautiously. An envelope was produced and traded between them. The suits took it and pull it open and look through it, and they shake their heads. One of them pushed the lid back down on the chest and picked it up.

Yuffie grinned from the shadows and leaped forward. "Sale confirmed," she said, and she spun through the air and kicked one of the toughs in the chest, knocking him to the ground while forcing him to drop the materia. The remaining tough and three suits all stop in place as she stood in their center, casting a smile around at all of them. "Here's your proof of purchase!"

The suits reacted first. The one with the chest sprinted around the car, toward the back, while the other two produced pistols from inside of her jackets and opened fired. Yuffie lifted her bracer and conjured a barrier. The bullets stopped feet in front of her, causing ripples of light where they hit the barrier.

She charged forward and directed her barrier to one suit while kicked the other hard in the stomach. Another kick to the chest sent him onto the hood of the and left him unarmed. The suit behind her tried to move with her, to get behind her and shoot her in the back, but she used her bracer to knock his gun away before grabbing him by the jacket and pulling him into a head butt. His nose collapsed, and she staggered back.

The suit behind the car drew his gun and opened fire on her from behind. She lifted her barrier and blocked the bullets while facing forward, where the second tough was still standing. He had drawn a switch blade and had it ready. Despite his shaky legs, he made for her and lunged forward. His movements were heavy and clumsy, and she sidestepped it and lifted her knee up into his stomach. Soon, he was curled up on the ground, coughing.

The last suit she handled by leaping over the car, kicking the suit there on the way, and spiraling through the air. She landed and swept his leg out from under him before wheeling around and landing a blow to his face with her bracer.

"And that, kids, is lunch." She kicked the suits gun away as she stood. The first tough was up again. He was about to run, but Yuffie tossed her shuriken in a way that placed it only a few feet in front of him and watched him go stiff. "Ah-ah, don't you go anywhere, mister. You're in a lot of big trouble, and we're going to have to take you home to talk with your mother about all of this." The tough shook and then sunk to his knees, head down, defeated. "Good boy."

Yuffie is halfway to him, to cuffs his hands and pick up her shuriken, when she hears a gun cock behind her. She turned just in time to hear a gunshot echo through the ruins. The suit who had gotten up had her in his sights and was partway to pulling the trigger when the gun was shot from his hand and thrown into the darkness by the impact. It didn't really matter, though, as Yuffie had her barrier up.

She met his awe and fright with a grin before kicking him across the face and throwing him to the ground. As she starting handcuffing each one, she spoke to her eyes in the ruins. "Good shooting, Dais. Though, I definitely had it under control."

"Yeah. That's why that guy had a gun on your back," said the voice in her ear, smooth and familiar. It belonged to her partner, Daisy Gould, a sniper by trade who joined the W.R.O at a very young age. She, along with Yuffie and one other field agent, made up the bulk of the W.R.O. Materia Hunter squad. "And shouldn't you unmute Shelke?"

Yuffie cuffed the one tough who was conscious and dragged him over by the jacket while h sobbed. "No. And I had my barrier up. I know you don't really use materia much, but it takes more than a low caliber round like that to break through my magic, I can assure you."

"While your magic is more advanced than most, it is still best to remain cautious and aware of your surroundings at all times, as ballistics tests have shown that even small caliber rounds, at a close enough proximity, can pierce barrier magic, Yuffie Kisaragi."

"And hey, there's Shelke. Finally figure out that I had you muted? Now, shush, I got work." She tossed the tough onto the crowd and watched him bawl. "Oh, would you shut up? I'm not here for you."

"Y-You're not?"

"Son, would you look at yourself? You're in a grubby hoodie and a pair of torn denim rags. You haven't got any money, which means you haven't got any information. In fact," she took his hat and jammed it into his mouth, "just shut up. And stop that crying already."

After tossing the tough aside, she righted one of the suited and pulled out her shuriken. Focusing her thoughts on the lightning materia attached to one of the blades, she filled it with a low charge and then pressed it away. He jumped a few inches and bolted awake.

"Ah! Ah. Ah—huh." The man looked around himself and blinked a few times. Then, he saw Yuffie and slouched. "Oh." He looked at the tough, who looked back at him in teary-eyed terror, and then he looked at the three other unconscious men beside him, and finally back at Yuffie. "You're going to interrogate me, aren't you?"  
"Ding-ding-ding, we've got a winner. And what has he won? Well, he's won an all-expense-pain to tortureville, along with a free shock treatment for one if he doesn't start talking. Fast." Yuffie leveled her shuriken and held it to his face. The man could hear the charge humming through the steel. "Whose your pipeline? And I mean, really, who. I want names, numbers, embarrassing photos, everything you got."

The suit spit at her, and though it missed, Yuffie felt it was important to teach him a lesson and tapped the shuriken to his shoulder just long enough to watch him hop. As he settled she kicked him in the chest and pinned him back and poised the shuriken's blade inches from his eye.

"Spit again and I'll see you smoking like burnt toast. Now, talk."

After Meteor Fall the world changed. Midgar, once the center of civilization and the throne of Shinra Inc., was reduced to scattered ruins, inhabited only by those unwilling to leave the slums or those unwelcome in the cities in general. With its president missing and no unified voice found, Shinra Inc. struggled to recoup before collapsing into itself. Those guilty were found and tried. Some were executed, some exiled, and without its head the serpent was no more.

The worlds fell into anarchy. The only government it knew had collapsed from the political upheavals, narcissism, and efforts of both those inside of the system and those working outside of it. Just as everyone thought the world would end for good the W.R.O. appeared. Rising from the wreckage, this World Regensis Organization was led by Reeve Tsuesti in the public eye and funded by a mysterious benefactor.

With Reeve at the head, the W.R.O. led the charge in the construction of Edge, a home for the refugees of post-meteor Midgar and slowly let their influence spread from there. Relief programs in Mideel, reconstruction for Junon, military support for areas targeted by brigands and criminals. The W.R.O. made a reputation for itself by being everything Shinra wasn't. It had the trust of the people and the resources to help when no one else could, and it promised to rebuild the world, or at least to make it better wherever possible.

The cities of the world flocked to this new banner and the hope it offered, and the W.R.O. swelled. It drew both volunteers and benefactors, adding funds to their already endless supply and growing political power. After a time, it seemed that a new regime had replaced Shinra, and while there were some who feared this new, rising power, most people found safety in its open arms.

Two years after Meteor Fall the three remnants of Sephiroth, a blight on the land, appeared, and the W.R.O. was there. Bahamut SIN wreaked havoc across Edge and, after Cloud and the heroes of the fall appeared to save the city, the W.R.O. was there with its limitless funds and bodies to restore the city and make it better.

A year later Deepground surfaced, an old evil newly released with ties to Shinra, and the W.R.O. raised an army to meet them head on. Popularly, it was seen as another Shinra experiment gone wrong, cleansed by the new heroes, the W.R.O., who had been righting the old regime's wrongs from day one. The Omega WEAPON woke, and the Vincent, helped by the planet's new protectors, put it down.

Each new crisis averted earned the W.R.O. greater praise and support. Soon, they had bases in every part of the world and recruitment centers with them. Everyone welcomed the W.R.O. into their boarders, into their homes, and started obeying the laws the W.R.O. instituted.

That is how the Hunters came to be. Old Shinra materia caches were open found and opened, and illegal materia distribution became a problem. Roaming gangs or newly rising mafias would attain and weaponize the materia found. Deemed too dangerous for the populace, the Hunters were founded to seek out these illegal materia smuggling rings and bring them to a close.

The story goes that there are international materia smuggling syndicates seeking to horde both combat and recovery materia and use it to build a new regime equally Shinra's power. The W.R.O. has built the new force, the Hunters, to meet this problem head on and solve it before it grows too great.

Yuffie was first on the list and asked personally by Reeve to work in the field, feeling she was particularly well-suited to the task. Five years after Meteor Fall, and one year after the founding of the W.R.O. Materia Hunters Force, Yuffie has worked all across the world, shutting down one ring after another, earning a name for herself with the public because of her efforts in Wutai and Cosmo Canyon.

A rise in illegal trade was found in Edge and the Midgar wastes. The numbers moved here aren't the greatest seen so far but are rising quickly, and so Yuffie was called back to help and solve the problem before moving on to her next task.


	2. First Mission

Edge: Seventh Heaven Bar\

Yuffie was sleeping, as they say, the sleep of the dead. Her arms were dead, her legs were dead, and the rest of her was simply numb to the world. Late the night before she came back to the bar and climbed in through the window, collapsing face-first into the mattress in the spare bedroom which Tifa loaned out to her. A few seconds passed, and then she was soundly asleep until the very late morning.

Her senses returned to her slowly, starting with sound. The continuous ringing of her alarm drilled into her ears and forced her into a state of partial wakefulness. She groped across the mattress, across her messed blankets and pillows, to her nightstand, where her arm guard rested, and thumbed the holographic display where a small, neon clock was shaking insistently. The ringing stop and Yuffie, body hanging partway off of the bed, fell face-first and landed with a groan.

Her room was lit already by the midday sun, its warm yellow light painting the walls and the floor. She winced as she opened her eyes and pulled the sheet from her bed off and over her. It gathered about her neck and chin but left her aching eyes uncovered. A final groan, and she laid there in defeated frustration, glaring sullenly at her window.

The sun glared back while the curtains danced.

Outside Edge was alive, people moving, working. Cars hummed up and down the street. Steam drifted in and out of few, moving wherever the wind willed it. It was nothing but a grimace to her as she struggled to standing and, in a final act of frustration, threw her crumpled sheet back onto the bed. She checked the time and took the holographic device from her guard, fixing it to the belt of her shorts.

She shuffled to the bathroom, where she washed her face and made a lazy attempt at brushing her teeth. This was followed by increasingly half-hearted efforts at further grooming which involved her muttering a lot and patting her hair. At one point she scratched her rear. Afterward, she followed the hall down the stairs.

The night had went long. By the time her paperwork was done Yuffie was crawling into her bedroom at dawn. Structure was a problem for the W.R.O., and the Hunters were no exception. Especially after their recent move, space was limited. They had few holding cells kept only for the worst, who were only there until they could be shipped to the W.R.O. HQ for proper interrogation and processing. Street toughs, like the ones she just caught, were handed off into Warden hands, which created work for everyone involved.

It bothered Yuffie, all of the red tape. When given the assignment, Yuffie had assumed it would be a problem that solved itself quickly, and she carried that thought with her to each new location. Edge, in particular, seemed incorruptible with such close ties to the W.R.O., but she was wrong. A month after their arrival in Edge the Materia smuggling going on in the area was worse than ever, and she was coming to regret her decision to stay with Tifa, who offered her housing during her time in Edge.

Yuffie stopped by her room to grab shoes when her PDA chimed. She tapped it and slipped a sock on one foot. "I'm already awake."

"Good afternoon, Yuffie Kisaragi."

Yuffie frowned and slipped her other foot into a sock. She wiggled her toes. "Shelke, did you set my alarm, cause I sure as hell didn't set it last night."

"Yes, I did."

"It isn't difficult. The encryption on the model TPK-337 Holographic…"

"Know what? I just remembered I don't care." She pulled a boot on and begins lacing it. "Don't do it again."

"Understood. We've processed the dealers from the night before. Their interviews and interrogations were completed this morning."

"I interviewed him last night, actually."

"Informally. Formal interviews were conducted when Warden interrogators arrived and filed no less than an hour ago, and a connection has been found between these dealers and other dealers previously apprehended."

She feels around under her bed for her other boot. "And that is?"

"Wasteland Bar."

"Never heard of it."

"The bar is fairly new. It was built on the fringes of Edge, MIdgar-side. Records states that it is already under surveillance by Warden forces due to suspected criminal activity."

Yuffie grunted an affirmation and found her boot. Sitting back, she stuffed her foot inside.

"It may be the staging area. Orders are to go there and gather information."

"Of course they are," she said, tying her shoe. "Like I need to be told how to do my job."

"This will be infiltration and reconnaissance, Yuffie Kisaragi. You need not engage them."

Yuffie stood, stifled a yawn, and left her room. She sauntered down the hallway, toward the stairs. "Ah-huh."

"Daisy will be there also. I have already spoken with her and should be there in thirty-minutes to pick you up, traffic permitting."

"Sounds like fun."

"Good luck, Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Yeah, yeah," Yuffie said, her finger hovering over the holographic interface. "I won't need it." With that, Yuffie hung up.

Yuffie made her way downstairs to the bar, where she found Marlene and Denzel having lunch while Tifa wiped down the counter. She could smell freshly cooked bacon and bread. As she staggered through the room, she stole a chip from Denzel's plate. He gave a quick glare at her while she patted his bushy auburn hair and slumped into the nearby chair.

Marlene smiled. "Good afternoon, Yuffie." She slid her plate toward Yuffie, who stole a wedge of sandwich for herself. They were having BLTs, crust removed, sliced into halves. Yuffie stuffed her half into her mouth.

"Yuffie, you're not stealing their lunches again, are you?" Tifa had her back to them and was busy prepping for the evening rush. Her new 7th Heaven was every bit as popular as the old one, as was her ability to see things with her back turned. Yuffie always called it her motherly instinct. Tifa didn't seem to mind.

"Me? No. Never." She winked at Marlene, who giggled politely in response.

Tifa turned, tossed her dish towel over her shoulder. "If you want, I'll make you something real fast.

"No time." Yuffie stole a drink of Marlene's water as she stood. "Got work."

"Of course you do." Tifa smiled. "And when exactly did you get in this morning?"

"And what did you do last night? Did you stop anything big?" Denzel rarely spoke, but he was always excited to hear about her work.

Yuffie offered him a brief smile. "I saved the world."

"Yeah," Denzel said, rolling his eyes, "We already know that."

Yuffie blew him a raspberry. "Seems more impressive to most people," she said. "Last night was just a smile time Materia deal in the Midgar ruins. Whipped some butt, asked some questions. Now, we're going to go verify what we got from them." She looked to Tifa, who was counting her bills from last night on the counter. "Hey, Tif, you ever heard of the Wasteland Bar?"

Tifa paused thoughtfully. "Yeah," she said, a hand on her hip, "That's where all the sorry riffraff I kick out of here go to sulk. Why?"

"It's where I'm headed. Got any advice?"

"Not much." Tifa went back to counting. "Hear they're open pretty much all hours of the day." She laid down her last bill, set aside the extra, and stacked what was left neatly. "Rumor is that place is dangerous, Yuffie. Be careful."

"Danger? Please. I'm the great ninja Yuffie." Her PDA chimed, and she thumbed it on. "Yeah?"

"Pulling up."

"Right." Yuffie ended the call with a swipe of her finger and grabbed a handful of chips from Denzel's plate as she passed. "Well, you all have a good day. And Tifa, feed those kids, will you? They're all skin and bones."

She was stuffing her face on the way out the door.

Edge: Streets\

Daisy drove a car that is sleek and red, with two doors, two seats, and the canopy down. She has glasses on and lets her dark hair whip about, unrestrained, in the wind. He smile is painted on, ruby red, and her outfit is casually revealing. She loved her car and took it with her whenever she could on missions. Edge, for her, is a blessing, especially after the difficulty of traversing Wutai without wheels.

Yuffie hated it. She hated the glossy finish. She hated the leather seats. She hated the polished rims. And she hated how her stomach churned as she hung over the side door, head down, trying not to vomit as she watched the Edge streets drift by.

Only a few years ago Edge was grassland and dust. The air was fresh, the sky a soft blue on clear days and pale when overcast. Steel and stone brought change to the area though. The air stunk of chemical and fume, tasted of stagnation and exhaust. The people of Edge had used Midgar as a template, designing their home with skyscrapers in mind and long, narrow streets meant for maximum efficiency.

Yuffie hated cities, and Edge was a city by design. Born to Wutai and raised on the road, the tall, glassy walls that surrounded her suffocated Yuffie and only served to make her illness more severe. Daisy, on the other hand, was always at her best within the city. It was the country that gave her allergies.

Still, the unchecked growth was something that gave pause to both women. They could remember the rapid development of Shinra, which turned almost overnight from a power company to the world's greatest military growth. The W.R.O. is growing with equal rapidity to the city that is their jewel and, though their promises seem sincere, there are some who remember Shinra Inc.

Daisy stopped them at a traffic light and waited patiently. She glanced at Yuffie. "Sick again?"

"Ugh."

"You read the briefing?"

"Not. A. Word."

Daisy laughed and shook her head. The light turned, and she took off. At the end of the street, Daisy took a left toward the outskirts of town. "Wasteland isn't in the best area, as it's name would imply." Daisy peeked over her glasses. "You listening?"

"Blrk."

"We're there to gather info. Which means not drawing attention. THeir usual clientele doesn't often include Hunters, so we're not us, then. We get some drinks, we sit on them, and we wait. Understood?"

Yuffie grumbled low.

"I'll take that as a yes." Excelerating-to Yuffie's dismay-they pass a car. "There's supposed to be a lot of criminals in there, including potential smugglers. This is their home, okay? Which means that there may be other W.R.O. investigations going on in there. Stay sharp, stay calm. No guns blazing, please."

"Don't. Use. Guns. Grgh."

Daisy nodded and then looked at Yuffie, who was nearly green. "You going to be okay?"

"No. Promises." Yuffie hardly had the words out before her breakfast follow. Her vomit left a trail along the road as they passed and also familiarized itself with Daisy's car door.

Edge Outskirts: Wasteland Bar\

Wasteland Bar was a squat, square building with fractured plaster and a flat roof. The exterior was ramshackle, haphazardly thrown together from various materials left over from the Midgar ruins. In truth, that wasn't as uncommon in Edge as the government and the W.R.O. would have the residents believe, but Wasteland in particular seemed hardly to be holding together. One of the windows was broken out, the glass of it still littered across the partially paved and pot-hole pocked parking lot. A thin fabric was put in place of it.

The interior, the women found after Yuffie had time to settle her stomach, was not much better. It was dimly lit and smoky. Holes in the roof offered more light than the burnt out or dirtied light bulbs. A sea of beards, tattoos, and shifted glances greeted them as they stepped through the doors, steel forcefully hammered to wood and looking ready to collapse at a touch. A thin man with a gray mustache watched them from the bar. He didn't smile.

Their entrance heralded a sudden silence, save for the music in the background. There was a jukebox, the lights on it dead, the glass casing fractured, at the far end of the room. Yuffie and Daisy took a booth near the end of the building and life returned, in a trickle, to the bar. The patrons, hunched over their tables, gambled and plotted, and they kept close watch on the duo. The thin man behind the bar approached and took their drinks. Daisy asked for something light. Yuffie got a tonic water.

True to form, when their drinks arrived, they sat on them. Yuffie swirled a slender red straw around her water and watched the small whirlpool it formed. Daisy sipped her drink and winced.

"Whooo. I asked for something light."

"Should have gotten water, like me," Yuffie said, placing her finger over the top of the straw and drawing it out. She sucked her water from the bottom before placing the straw on the table. "We're getting some looks."

"Of course we are. Aren't you supposed to be a ninja?"

"Aren't I?" Yuffie twisted her brow. "What is _that_ supposed to mean."

"It means that you're not exactly being inconspicuous."

"What? Want me to scowl more?" Yuffie shrugged. "Excuse me for having a bit of presence."

"You waved at someone when we entered."

"That's called being friendly. You're the one over there wincing at a little alcohol and being all shifty-eyed." Yuffie hunched and darted her eyes back at forth while wriggling her fingers. "Golly gosh, I sure do hope no one notices that I'm spying right now."

"Yuffie!"

"Then again," Yuffie stood up to survey the room, "Everyone else here is pretty shift-eyed, too."

Daisy took Yuffie by the shoulders and yanked her down. "Would you sit down?" She sat back, sighing. "We're supposed to be blending in."

"Oh, please, that was never going to work." Daisy gave her a look across the table, and Yuffie sat back, hands up, "What? We don't have enough tattoos for that." She looked around the bar. "Or yellow teeth. Or tattoos OF yellow teeth." She tilted her head. "Really, dude?"

Daisy sighed, head down, pressed flat to the table. Then, gathering herself, sat up and gave a look around the room. Everyone was watching them. It wasn't overt, but they kept glancing toward their table. The music was on, the conversation was full, but no one turned their attention away for long. It was obvious now that each one was armed, too.

Yuffie sipped her water. "I think they recognize me."

"Recognize you? From what?"

"From the war," Yuffie said.

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Of course they do. Everyone knows all about the Great Ninja Yuffie."

"Oh? You sound jealous."

Daisy sighed. "Just stop."

"Relax, Daze." Yuffie sat back and crossed her legs. She swayed one foot in tune with the music from the jukebox. "Ninja Rule #1, if you act like you don't belong, then you won't belong."

"I thought Ninja Rule #1 was to end the fight before it started. Or there was that time you said it was to move like the night."

"Ninjas have a lot of rules, the importance of which change to suit the situation."

Daisy sipped her drink again, winced, and spit it back into the cup. When people noticed, she held the glass up and pretended she was enjoying it. Looking back at Yuffie anxiously, she said, "They're still watching."

"Of course they are. It's all cause we're so pretty."

Daisy folded her arms and hid her face away with a groan. "That doesn't make me feel better."

"It should." Yuffie turned her cup in circles. Then, she set it on a napkin and watched a wet ring form about it. "Come on, this is better than Junon, isn't it? I mean, you remember that one chase? With the guy with the toupee."

"Oh, don't remind me."

Yuffie cracked a grin. "Point is: we've done this before. So, sit back and enjoy it."

Gradually, the bar settled. All around them, people returned to their drinks, to their laughter, and to their conversation. The glances continued, of course, and the bartender hovered now, watching them with open interest and suspicion.

They waited longer and let a few people filter out. The patrons who stayed were the ones watching mos intently, and both women knew that their time was running out. Daisy stirred her drink now, the strong smell of which was making her nose wrinkle.

"I don't know," Daisy said. "This is starting to feel a bit different from Junon." She glanced back at the patrons again. "I seriously think they know."

"Oh, they definitely know."

Daisy sighed, stared at her drink. "This was all a huge mistake."

"Seems like."

"Then, what will we do? We can't gather information when they know we're looking for it.

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah, that is a funny anecdote, and I am laughing at it." Yuffie stood. "I need a refill."

"You've barely drank any of it."

"Good point." Yuffie, still staring across the room, eyes locked on the bartender, poured her drink directly onto her booth seat. Then, she marched through the crowd toward the bar. People parted to let her pass, eyes fixed openly on her now. She found a stool and settled.

The bartender gave her a long stare, arms crossed, cigarette burning in his mouth. He approached, a trail of blew haze following him, and stopped in front of her. There, he removed his cigarette and blew a puff of smoke into her face.

Yuffie coughed and waved the smoke off. The tension was back, and she could feel it in her neck. Everyone around the room had shifted collectively and each would be reaching for their weapons about now.

The bartender stared her in the eye. "What'd you want, little girl?"

"Another drink," Yuffie said, setting her glass on the bar. "And, if you're open to it, a moment of your time." She gave a lackadaisical smile. "If you're lucky, I may be willing to pay for both."

The bartender pulled out a bottle of something clear and sour-scented, and he poured it to overfull, leaving pools of beaded liquid settled around it. Then, he shoved the glass at her. "There, on the house. Drink it and leave."

"Well," Yuffie said, glancing at the glass she had. The contents of it had spilled out over the bar and onto her exposed thighs. She wiped at the mess with her hands. "That's no way to treat a customer."

"You're not customer."

"Oh? I'm not?" She looked him in the eyes again. "Then what am I?"

"W.R.O."

The air tightened. The entire room eyed her back. Yuffie considered the placement of each thug, accounted for potential movement around her based on the scuffling of feet during the short-lived exchange and the the breathing patterns. The bartender, meanwhile, spat at her. His saliva left a thin string across the bar and landed, squarely, against her cheek.

Yuffie pursed her lips, shrugged. Then, she took the glass between her fingers and spun it, slowly, in the alcohol. The smell was stronger now. "You could call me that." In her periphery, she could see the knives drawn, the pipes readied. "You could also just think of me as being curious. Actually, it's better to just think of me as being curious, because whatever the case is, I'm going to find out what I want, and curious saves me a lot of paperwork and you a few cracked ribs."

"We ain't scared of you," the bartender said, evenly. He leaned forward to stare her in the eye. "We killed before, even government dogs like you, Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Yuffie? Kisaragi? Me?"

The bartender gave a scoff and smiled like he was in a secret. "Recognize you the moment you walked in. All them broadcasts way back when, hero of the Jenova war." He sat back and laughed. "Well, you ain't no hero here, honey. You're just out number."

"Fair." Yuffie looked over her shoulder, past the collected thugs preparing to strike. "Hear that, Daze? They did recognize me." She turned back to the bar. "And assuming I am her-which, spoiler, so totally am-what makes you think you can kill me?"

"Cause you ain't no one. From what I heard, all the others did all the work. All you did was show up and take credit." He reached into his pocket and produced a pair of brass knuckles. Fixing them around his fingers, he flexed. "Finish your drink and get the hell out of my bar before you regret it? And take your little girlfriend with you."

"Here what he just said, D?"

"Of course I did," Daisy said, a frown thick in her voice. "Reed is going to love this."

"We'll say it's self-defense."

Reaching forward, Yuffie grabbed the bartender by the head and slammed him, face-first, into the glass on the bar. After, she gave him another hard slam before throwing him back and turning, kicking out at the man behind her who had brandished a knife. Another man stepped in, also with a knife, and jabbed for her, and she sidestepped and swung forward, punching him in the face.

A group of other men had surrounded the booth. One of them brought a wooden beam down on Daisy, who leaped onto the table and kicked out at him. Two other men grabbed at her and pulled her from the bar while she wriggled and stretched. Reaching back, she pulled a taser from her back pocket and pressed it to the arm of one of the men. A jolt of electricity shot through the man, tensing his body and sending him to the ground.

Daisy fell to the ground when one of the men released her. She shocked the other man until a big, brute of a man stomped forward toward her. Retreated back, she scrambled out of reach into the safety beneath the table until the table was lifted up, pulled free from the loose floorboards that previously held it. They made eye contact, and he grinned.

Yuffie spiraled through her group of people, kicking at the man's back and knocking him forward. Pushing off of him, she spun around again and landed a blow on another man's face and knocked him back into the stools. Two more men approached her, and she marched forward, jumped forward and grabbed one man around the shoulders, using him to suspend herself while she kicked out at the second. Then, using inertia, she twisted around the man and brought her elbow down upon the first man's neck.

The man went to kneeling, where Yuffie grabbed him by the head and kneed him, hard. He went sideways, collapsing against the bar.

The cocking of a gun drew her attention. Yuffie looked up to find a man, tattooed and battered as the rest, with a gun pointed at her forehead. She watched him grin and grinned in turn, and then grabbed him by the wrist and twisted his hand back.

"Bitch!"

"Now, now, that's not nice." She brought her knee up into his arm and felt it snap. Then, peeling the gun from his hand, she kicked him down across the face and took the gun apart, piece by piece. Nearby, the last man was brought down by the buzz of electricity.

Two men were left, one thin and one older. Thin carried a steel pipe. He wore his head short, nearly bald, and had a pair of sloppy serpents tattooed across his skull. Old had a knife ready and a greying beard. Yuffie looked them up and down and, hip cocked, dropped the gun's different pieces to the floor.

"You two really think you can win this?"

"No," said thin, shaking. "But…"

"But?"

"Them was our friends," old said, but he said it without much feeling. It seemed to her that a life of crime was, at best, a hobby for him, maybe something he did with his son just as a way to connect with him. By this point in the fight, however, both were beginning to consider how bad things may turn out for them.

"Ah. So, honor before reason, then?"

"Something like that." The old man took a deep breath, closed his wrinkled eyes tight, and then charged. He lead with the knife and put his full weight behind the lunge. Yuffie hardly had to move to lead him on the ground with his knife in her hand, flipping it casually while she kept him pinned with her foot. Her gaze was fixed on thin. "You give?"

Thin looked, first at her, then at the old man on the ground, and then back at her, and he dropped his weapon and let out a whine. "Don't hurt me."

"I won't. In fact, I'll let you help me out a bit, but…" She kicked the old man once, just to keep him obedient, and then walked away, blade still in hand. When she reached him, she kicked again. It wasn't hard, but it knocked the wind from him and sent him back into a chair, which she thin pushed into a nearby wall. Throwing the knife, she pinned it into the seat between his legs, catching the fabric on the way. Then, she stepped forward and leaned against his knee. "Talk fast or I'll stomp them to dust."

He swallowed, loudly, and began to sweat. "But, I don't wanna be a squealer."

"Oh, you'll be squealing a whole lot more if you don't talk."

Another swallowed. It almost sounded like he actually said 'gulp.'

"What do you know about the Materia Smuggling going on around Edge? Who are the dealers? Where are they getting it from? ANd if you don't know, then who would?"

"None of us" she squeaked, and she applied pressure into his thigh. "W-What I mean is, we ain't dealers! We do the running is all, and we do it for someone else. Big group, led by some man with a mask."

"A mask?" Yuffie glanced back at Daisy, who was watching from behind. "And who is this man exactly?"

"I don't know! He ain't just into smuggling, though. He's been doing more, lots more, has a whole group of people doing it for him, doesn't even need the numbers. All he wants from us is to move his stuff without getting caught. That's all!"

"And say I wanted to get my hand on this masked man. How would I go about doing it?"

"Th-they don't need the numbers, but they're always recruiting. People go there, they go normal and come out all kinds of crazy. Talk about fighting for some cause of some nonsense."

"A cause?" Yuffie snorted, laughed. "Real original, these guys. ANd where do they do these recruitment drives?"

"All over."

Yuffie shifted her foot away from his thigh and moved closer to his crotch. "Where is that?"

Thin, wide-eyed, shuddered. "Midgar Ruins! Sector 3! Tonight!"

"Tonight, huh?" Yuffie lifted her foot and positioned her toes between the knife handles and the chair. With a flick of her ankle, she flipped the blade up and caught it in the air. Then, turning, she tossed it, hitting a man rising behind Daisy with the butt and knocking him back to the ground. Without a look back at thin, she said, "You can go. And take your daddy with you."

Thin and old were nearly out the door, Yuffie called to them. They stopped, stiff, and swallowed. The young man, formerly thin, now just a boy trying to turn his life around, turned. "Y-Yes?"

"Just out of curiosity, if I wanted to go to this thing-I mean, it does sound fun-what's it for? Who are these people?"

"Th-the Emerald Lotus."

Yuffie's eyes narrowed. "Emerald Lotus? You sure?"

"Y-Yes."

She tapped her chin and then laughed. "Okay, then. Thanks. Have a good day now. And stay out of trouble."

"Y-you, too?"

Both men left as Yuffie walked the length of the bar. The men on the floor breathed shallowly, not a death among them. Daisy stood by the bar, slapping her taser against her palm and cursing quietly to herself.

"A taser?"

"I knew things would go sideways." Daisy frowned at Yuffie. "They always do when you're around."

Yuffie shrugged, and the two of them started toward the door.

"And what was that 'stomp them to dust' crap about?"

"Something I picked up from Tifa way back when."

Daisy shook her head. "You people," she said, dropping her taser into her pocket and climbing into her car.


	3. Second Mission

Midgar Wastes: W.R.O. Hunter's Lodge\

After the Jenova War ended, many Shinra military bases were left abandoned in the company's collapse. The W.R.O., lacking resources for proper facilities in the early parts of their growth, saw fit to repurpose many of these facilities for their own use. Outside of Midgar, standing in the wastes just shy of Edge, was one such base which had been fashioned into the current Hunter's Lodge.

From a distance it appeared only to be a few square buildings sitting, flat-topped, in the dusty red wastes. The Hunters took that and did superficial repairs, reinforcing the wind-blasted walls or replacing them altogether. The interior had largely been left in disrepair, save for the more necessary repairs. A vault was installed, too, in the very base of the facility, underground, where Materia would be stored before being catalogued and shipped out to the W.R.O. HQ.

By their nature, the Materia Hunters were a nomadic organization. Every base they had was meant to be disposable because they never truly knew how long they would be somewhere before their work took them somewhere else. Due to their long list of efficient successes, the Hunters rarely stayed any place for long, moving often at least once every year, if not more frequently. Edge's size and well-developed underground market is proving to be more troublesome than expected.

Much of the Lodge's facilities were located underground. A series of tunnels were there waiting, connecting rooms that oftentimes served as bunks for Shinra soldiers. The Hunters made them into officers, training rooms, and interrogation rooms. One building was fashioned into a dormitory of sorts, where only a handful of agents stayed rather than pay rent in Edge for proper housing. Yuffie had intended to do so until Tifa offered-insisted-she took a room.

Yuffie found the long, narrow halls and the dim lighting of the Lodge oppressing and avoided it at all cost. Daisy spent almost every day there and slept there at night. She often passed the time by filing paper work, resupplying, and gathering new and fresh intel. Between the two of them, she did the bulk of the work, which was part of why Yuffie kept her so close.

Despite Yuffie's field experience over her, Daisy was a few years older than Yuffie, and it showed. She had long, dark hair often kept in a bun or a ponytail, and gentle dark eyes, and she carried herself with an air of competent kindness. In her youth, she had joined the Shinra military as a way of bettering her life and dreamed big of success. Training saw her put into an elite marksmanship program, but she was never able to see combat. The war ended before she was ever sent to the front line.

When younger, Daisy had been upset to see that. Her training felt wasted. Now older and more travelled, however, she sees the blessing hidden within that lost time. Shinra was not the company she thought it was, and her romantic inspiration of protecting people and stopping monsters would have quickly been swallowed by a myopia of oppression and cold, clinical violence.

When the company's darkest secrets were brought to light, Daisy did what many other Shinra's young hopefuls did and joined the W.R.O. She, like many of those who were disillusioned after their dreams were shattered in the wake of Shinra's fall, wanted to fix what they had helped to break. Yuffie, however, was always quick to remind Daisy that she never really had the opportunity to break anything at all, but it never seemed to alleviate the woman's guilty conscious.

They arrived at the Lodge in the early afternoon. The hot asphalt danced like a belly-dancer as they approached. Yuffie nearly fell from the passenger seat when they finally came to a stop. It took nearly everything from her to keep from vomiting again. Even then, there was a streak of the day's lunch left across the Daisy's door that would require cleaning. Daisy eyed it with particular distaste as she waited for Yuffie to recover.

Yuffie continued nursing her stomach as they took the stairs down into the front office. The air smelled musty as they entered, a long lingering remnant of its time abandoned and forgotten. They are greeted by a petite blond sitting behind a desk. She adjusts her glasses as they approach her. "Afternoon, Ms. Kisaragi, Ms. Gould."

Daisy waved and greeted the woman warmly. Yuffie gave a limp wave of her own and groaned. "Canary."

"If I could bother you," she said, her fingers dancing across the keyboard. The computer screen was reflected in the lenses of her glasses. She adjusted them again before looking back at them. "Um, sorry, but if I could bother you. Mr. Reed would like to see you in his office, if you could."

Yuffie sighed, leaned against the wall. She could feel Daisy staring, worriedly, at her back. "Why?"

Canary shifted in her seat. "I'm sorry, I don't know. He simply said that he would like to speak with you, should you come in."

"Of course he did."

"I'm sorry," Canary said softly.

Daisy put on a smile and took Yuffie by the arm. "You're fine, Canary." Yanking Yuffie forward, she left the front desk behind and started down the empty hall beyond it. "Come on, I'll go with you. It's probably about what happened at the Wasteland, anyway."

Yuffie groaned and shuffled after Daisy. "You know, we could always ignore this and pretend like we didn't hear from Canary."

"And let her get in trouble for it?"

"Sounds like her problem to me."

"Yuffie!"

"I'm just not in the mood for one of his lectures."

"I understand, but he is the boss," Daisy said, and she paused to look back, "Which means you have to pretend to listen to him sometimes."

"I just want to make it known that I disagree."

"Fine," Daisy said, dragging again, "Disagree. Just do it silently."

Daisy led Yuffie through the halls by the arm like a child. Reed, the Hunter's director of operations, kept an office in the back of the facility, closest to the stairs leading down to the Materia Vault. The halls leading up to his office are noticeably better kept. The small, superficial cracks lining the walls are thin and few and a fresh paint job adds color. Even the lights here are newer and brighter.

They knocked before entering. Reed's high voice bid they enter, and he wore a smile as he faced them. It faded, briefly, when his gaze alighted on Daisy.

Reed was a tall man of a thin build. His hair was dark, short, and precise, like his dress. He wore suits to work with neatly folded handkerchiefs in his breast pocket. He kept an equally neat beard and today his suit was blue and his tie black with dark blue stripes. On his desk sat an elderly computer that hummed quietly.

"Ms. Gould," he said, rising from his desk, "I didn't ask for you."

"I know," Daisy said, and she settled in one of the seats. She had to pull Yuffie down into the seat beside her. "But, I thought that since Yuffie and I have been working together so much lately, it wouldn't hurt for me to be present, as whatever you have to say to her likely involves me, as well."

He gave her a long, tired stare, and then eased a smile back onto his face. "Fine," he said, "If you insist." He smoothed the creases from his suit and then folded his hands behind his back. "I suppose it won't hurt for you to hear what needs to be said, I am sure. In fact, you may be able to offer assistance in the matter."

"Maybe," Daisy said, crossing her legs.

Yuffie sat, curled up in her seat, holding her stomach.

Reed paced behind his desk for a moment, lost in quiet thought. Then, he turned on her with a hard glare. "What's wrong with you."

"Motion sickness," Daisy said, answering for Yuffie.

"Oh, yes." He leaned forward, resting his hands on the desk before him, and he stared at Yuffie. "Quite the agent, aren't you?"

Yuffie shrugged and glared back at him.

He stood again and resumed pacing. "Regardless, I called you here to review your work as of late, Ms. Kisaragi. In particular, I would like to discuss with you your most return recent escapade, where you involved yourself in a bar brawl at a criminal location." He lifted his eyebrow, looked at her.

Yuffie sat up. "Okay how in the world did you hear about that already?"

He stopped on point and smiled grimly. "So, you don't deny it."

"No," said Yuffie, and Daisy pinched her wrist. She recoiled and frowned. "Ow! What was that for? It's not like he doesn't already know. Besides, I didn't do anything wrong." She turned her focus back on Reed. "We were there gathering information."

Reed's eyes narrowed. "With your fists?"

"Sometimes it's the only way to get the information."

Daisy pinched Yuffie again and then crossed her arms. "Director Reed, I assure you, in this situation, Yuffie did her absolute best to operate within mission parameters and reacted accordingly only due to a shift in said parameters."

"I seem to remember you saying something like that before," Reed said, folding his arms behind his back again. "Like when you had that car chase through the streets of Wutai."

"What," Yuffie said, "Was I supposed to just let them escape?"

"Which also said about the warehouse fire in Mideel."

"Turns out fire materia makes things burn." Yuffie nudged Daisy, grinning, and Daisy glared back at her.

"And she said it, also, when she got drunk and captured by the enemies in Junon."

"Okay, now that," Yuffie said, index finger forward, "That was not my greatest moment, but we made it out okay, didn't we?"

"And there is your problem, Ms. Kisaragi. You always make it out. You make a mess, and then you drag everyone into it to clean it up. Then, you walk away with all of the stories, don't you?"

Yuffie's eyes narrowed, and she sunk back into her chair. "I don't think that's a problem," she said, crossing her arms in a sulk. "You just want to string me up."

"Sir," Daisy interrupted, glaring once again in Yuffie's direction. "With all due respect, I was on each of these operations and was just as much involved as she was. So, why am I not being reprimanded like this?"

"Because you're there solving your partner's problems." Reed sighed. "Which is commendable, but were it not for _her_ reckless behavior in the first place, you wouldn't need to clean up after her like a mother would with a child?"

"Sir, again, with all due respect, I don't think that's entirely fair."

"Oh, it's definitely not fair." By that point, her body was sunk deep into the chair in an effort to keep her from throttling Reed. "What would be fair is if he would focus on the paperwork and leave the real work to us on the field."

Reed laughed. "Those in the field? You mean childhood materia thieves turned 'heroes' because she latched onto the right people? Those sorts of people in the field?"

Yuffie stood now, hands formed tightly into fists. "And where were you during all of that? Hiding and cowering with everyone else on the sidelines?"

" _I_ was working with the director to evacuate people from within the city while you were floating around with your friend, Mr. Valentine and taking credit for his successes. But that's what you do, isn't it? Throw yourself into the middle of things and claim victory when the day is won."

"Sir," Daisy said, but she was cut off by a glare from him.

"Listen to me, Ms. Kisaragi, you are a member of the Hunters, which is a W.R.O. operation. We are not at war with monsters, anymore, and we should no longer behave as if the ends justify the means. Your actions no longer save the world. They just cause trouble for innocent people and the organization itself."

"I stop bad guys," Yuffie said after a long, heavy pause.

"You cause property damage and injure people in the name of your own personal crusades." Reed held her gaze, even as she glared and shook, and he met her with a calm fury of his own. "According to the officers on the scene, you were threatening the young man at the bar. And what exactly did you get for that?"

Yuffie was about to swing when Daisy grabbed her by the wrist. So, she took a deep breath. "We got information. That's what we got."

"And at what cost," he said, his voice now low and hard. "I hope, I truly hope, Ms. Kisaragi, that the information is worth the price it cost the W.R.O. and the Peacekeeper forces." He stood tall and adjusted his suit, tugging carefully at the cuffs. Then, he pulled out his chair and settled, crossing his legs. "This is all just a caution. I merely wanted to warn you that I will no longer be overlooking your antics. Not when you're impeding other W.R.O. operations. What good will you had from our Director is all dried up." He scooted forward then and returned to his paperwork on his computer.

Yuffie stood and opened her mouth, but she was stopped by a squeeze on the wrist. Looking back, she found Daisy standing, too, and in a fit, Yuffie turned and stomped out of the door. Daisy winced when the door slammed and then, muttering an apology, bowed to Reed and left.

Yuffie stormed down the hall in a thoughtless rage. It was clear that she had no idea where she was going, whether from a lack of familiarity or from anger, Daisy didn't know. She merely hurried after and, once close enough, wrangled Yuffie and directed her toward the Lodge cafeteria.

The cafeteria was a large room with a slanted ceiling. Large steel beams stretched across. Located above ground, it gave a view of the entire barrens from one side and of the gray topography of Edge, framed against the ruins of Midgar. A patio faced the ocean and, on warm, clear days, gave a hint of the sea breeze when the wind was strong enough.

As they settled, Daisy frowned. Yuffie, now calmed, met her gaze and put her arms behind her head, looking nonchalant. "What?"

"You."

"Listen, D, I didn't say anything to him that he didn't have coming."

"He's your boss."

"He's your boss," Yuffie said. "I've been at this a lot longer than he has." She stretched, looked out the window. "Besides, he's a jerk."

"You pushed his buttons."

"He pushed first."

Daisy's frown deepend. She leaned forward on her arms, looking suddenly heavy and equally tired. "And you didn't even try to make it better."

"Because I shouldn't have to," Yuffie said, making eye contact now. "I'm good at this. Great at it. I've done it my whole life. He, on the other hand, doesn't even do it now." She crossed her arms and looked particularly childish in the moment. "He's just a glorified paper-pusher."

"But he's right, Yuffie." Yuffie glared at her, and Daisy sighed. She rubbed her eyes and her temples as she spoke. "Whether you realize it or not, we aren't all heroes from the good old days. Some of us haven't saved the world three times over and are just trying the best we can now, and we can't do it without resources." She looked Yuffie in the eyes again and found her yielding. "Like it or not, he's in charge of procuring those resources."

"I…"

They are on the way to the lunch line as they speak when they ran into Oliver Sykes. A tall man with dark hair and extremely bright eyes, she met them with a smile. He wore the W.R.O. uniform with the jacket open and had a folder tucked underneath his arm. Daisy went quiet when she saw him. Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"Hey, you two," he said as he approached. "I thought I saw you around here."

Daisy adjusted her jacket, tightened her ponytail. "Oliver."

"What're you two doing on site?"

"Arguing," Yuffie said, arms crossed now and sulking. "We're arguing. Oh, and hi." She swipes a fruit cup from the line, which Daisy frowns over. By the time Daisy paid for it, Yuffie had it halfway consumed.

He followed them through the line and to their table. As they settle, he rested the folder under his arm flat on the table in front of him. "So, may I ask what exactly you two are talking about?"

"The usual," Yuffie said, flatly, stealing a roll from Daisy's plate. After knowing her long enough, Daisy has just started to buy extra food. "Reed's up my ass, and Dasy thinks I should let him make a home there." She poured the rest of the fruit cup into her mouth before tearing at Daisy's roll.

Daisy watched her, a single eyebrow raised, and then sighed. Turning away, she said, "Anyway, what are you working on, Oliver? We're not interrupting you, are we?"

"No," Oliver said, and he smiled. It showed his dimples. "No, I just found some smuggling in the Kalm area. It's nothing major, but I'm looking into it. How about you two? How did last night go?"

"Smooth as always," Yuffie said, and Daisy gave her a look. Yuffie met it. "What?"

Daisy rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fine, Daisy stepped in to steal the spotlight, but aside from that, it was nothing."

"So, she saved your rear again?"

Daisy grinned.

"If you want to tell it like that, you can, I guess." Yuffie stuffed part of Daisy's roll into her mouth.

"Anyway," Daisy said, "Today we followed up on the lead. Which, in turn, led us to another lead. Which is why we're here now."

"Doing research," Oliver asked, staring across the table at the two of them.

"Well, grabbing lunch," Yuffie said, mouth full of bread. "We'll have Shelke do the leg work later."

Daisy frowned at Yuffie. "What? No. You always make her do that."

"I don't always do anything," Yuffie said, and she quickly added, "But if you have a resource, why not use it?"

Oliver, listening to that point, paused and thought. "Actually, that is a good point." He grinned when Daisy turned her glare on him. "I'm just kidding. What, if I may ask, is your lead for anyway?"

Yuffie gave a great swallow. "Some guy over at the Wasteland dropped a name," she said. "Emerald Lotus. Sound familiar?"

Oliver paused, scratched his chin. Then, he shook his head. "Not at all. Sorry."

"Damn." Patting her chest, Yuffie burped and stood from the table. Daisy grimaced as she went. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a call to make." She shuffled away languidly, exiting onto the awning and staring out at the Edge city-scape rising in the distance, gray like a far mountain. She dialed a number into her PDA and waited as it chimed.

"Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Shelke," Yuffie said, and she leaned over against the railing. Behind her, she swayed one foot. "Got anything on the Emerald Lotus."

Empty tones sound on the other end of the phone. There is the briefest of pauses, and then, "A type of medicinal plant found in the Wutain regions. Small doses produce a mild regenerative effect. Ingestion of the leaves, in large doses, may cause minor auditory or visual hallucinations. This is caused by…"

"Shelke. Shelke! I already know this. I'm from Wutai, remember."

"Yes, of course. Ancient Wutai tradition uses the emerald lotus as a symbol of regeneration or metaphysical and spiritual ascendance. The oldest texts of the myth of…"

"Shelke, I want something new. Something modern."

Another pause, more empty tones, and finally, "An anti-WRO organization has recently surfaced using the symbol. Though there is nothing confirmed, some circles are referring to it as the Emerald Lotus It has been very active in the Midgar region in the last few months. It is believed to be a small crime ring focusing on minor activities such as extortion, bribery, and Materia smuggling.

"Recently, there has been a push for recruitment."

Yuffie grinned. She turned back toward the cafeteria and looked in on Daisy and Oliver flirting. "That sounds about right. Anything else that I should know?"

"As would be expected, their influence is growing as they grow. They've become well-known in the Kalm area and even have reach in Junon."

"Kalm, huh? And what exactly is their problem with the WRO? Have anything on that?"

"Official transcripts of those captured and interrogated members claim that their leader, a man who calls himself Lotus, is against any and all forms of larger forms of governments. He speaks loftily of an anarchist society of equals who live in absolute freedom from government oversight and uses lingering fears of Shinra to gain support."

Yuffie puffs up her cheeks. "Sounds like scum to me."

"Perhaps, but his organization has been gaining traction in the past months."

"Then the people are scum." Yuffie stood and paced. She never liked to see weak people being weak, and she hated Shinra with a deep passion. To know that Shinra's shadow still pushed the weak about left her restless. "Anything else I should know?"

"The Emerald Lotus is holding a rally tonight in the ruins of Midgar."

"Sector Three, right?" Yuffie stopped pacing. "Sounds like I'm taking Daisy somewhere nice tonight."

"Be careful, Yuffie Kisaragi, and contact me if you need anything."

"Won't need anything. Later, Shelke."

Yuffie cut the call and returned inside. She found Daisy and Oliver smiling, and their joy wilted as she approached. Oliver nodded. Daisy sighed. "What did Shelke say?"

"She said for you to dress up nice, because there's an Emerald Lotus rally in Sector Three tonight, and we're going to crash."

"Did she say that, or are you saying that," Oliver asked. Yuffie shrugged in response, and Oliver shook his head. "Didn't Reed just get onto you two for sticking your noses into this?"

"Oh, yeah, that may ruffle his feathers a bit, huh?" Yuffie looked momentarily thoughtful and then shrugged. "Sounds to me like a fringe benefit, then." She looked at Daisy. "You in?"

Daisy sighed. "I'll be there," she said, and Oliver shook his head again. "What can I say? She would be lost without me."

"Well, aren't you the martyr," Oliver muttered.

Yuffie turned to leave, waving over her shoulder. "Okay, I'm going to go train until later tonight. You two lovebirds have fun. And Daisy, sweetie, I'll see you tonight."

"Yup," Daisy said, and she turned back to find Oliver frowning. "What?"

"She's going to get you killed one of these days," he said.

"No," Daisy said, laughing. "She'll get herself killed long, long before that."

The Ruins of Midgar: Sector Three\

Before sunset, Daisy drove them out to the outskirts of midgar. They arrived with Yuffie hanging, half-sick, over the edge of the car, and stopped just outside of the sector-three fence. The steel was collapsed, partially flattened during metor ball and blackened by the intense heat of the Sister Ray's backfire. Parts of the chainlink had melted away entirely.

They waited for the sun to set. Yuffie nursed her upset stomach, seated against the car. Daisy checked her weapons, a taser for safety, a polished switchblade tucked away into an inside breast pocket on her jacket, and a small, low-caliber pistol hidden in one of her boots. Both were dressed in civilian clothes, Daisy wearing form-fitting pants, fuzzy brown boots, and a tucked in green tank with a black jean jacket. Yuffie wore a large, dark hoodie and a pair of shorts.

Massive spires of debris gleamed as the sunlight faded away. They stuck from the earth, from the ruins, remnants of crises past. The sector bears its scars proudly, but tonight they seemed haunted. Yuffie stared into the bleak remains of a once mighty empire as the color drained away from them, leaving only bleak shadows of what once was, and she wondered if perhaps her nausea was affecting her perception. She almost felt guilty for Shinra.

They had parked among the shadows, the car hidden under a canopy of steel frames that were woven together in the heat of collapse. Yuffie flipped her hood up when the sunlight was gone and only the pale light of the twilight sky remained. She looked at Daisy, who stood from the hood of her car. "Time to go," she said. Daisy put on a pair of red-tinted sunglasses and nodded.

The streets between the sectors were often little more than dirt paths worn from use. After meteor fall, not even that remained. What was left were long, narrow channels that wove themselves through the rusting remains of the once mighty plate which obscured the sky. The moon rose slowly overhead, casting its cold light across the land. The steel grew pale and white in color and looked more bones than anything else. Tattered clothes hung here or there. The air smelled strongly of oil and ruin.

Yuffie kept her eyes down and moved quickly. Daisy trailed after, grimacing as they passed. Ahead, there were lights. Daisy peeked over her glasses. "Must be where the rally is."

"Probably."

They came to a stop and looked out ahead of them. Among a clearing there were numerous lights set up, towering over the decay around them. They illuminated the area as brightly as if it were day. Bodies could be seen filling the area. The sound of voices drifted through the empty night.

"Now, Yuffie, let's do this by the book. Don't look anyone in the eye. Don't talk. The people around here don't like the W.R.O. to begin with, they certainly won't like you if they recognize you, and if you announce yourself as you like to, they're going to recognize you."

Yuffie rolled her eyes, stood with one hip cocked. "Daisy, please. I know how to infiltrate the place. I mean, I am a ninja, after all." She pointed to herself. "Great Ninja Yuffie, remember?"

Daisy sighed. "And that is the exact thing that you will NOT say."

Yuffie knitted her brow. "What," she muttered, and she leapt forward and out of earshot.

Daisy stood, rooted to the ground in the darkness and the moonlight for a moment. She sighed. "We are so going to die tonight." Her head ached as she thought about it, and she pinched the bridge of her nose before hurrying ahead to keep pace with Yuffie.

The lights grew blinding as they approached and gave off intense heat. A stage had been set up, freshly built from wreckage in the area. Enormous chunks of steel-remnants of the upper plate-were stacked high around the area for added protection and privacy. Two guards stood watch out front, both wearing dark green vests emblazoned with a golden lotus flower across their chest.

A small gathering of people were in the center, standing before the raised platform. There were nearly thirty at this point, with more people appearing from the shadows at irregular intervals. They spoke quietly in the dusty heat of the night, their voices melding together into noise.

Yuffie approached casually, a natural swagger to her walk. Daisy trailed after. They passed the guards without issue and hugged the rear, speaking quietly to each other without making eye contact.

"Must be the place," Yuffie said, surveying the gathering crowd. Many of them were older, those who were young when Shinra took power, those who would remember the corruption.

Daisy nodded discreetly. "It couldn't be anything else." She glanced back toward the entryway. There were more following them in. "This isn't small," she said. "Let's try to get a headcount."

"You can do that." Yuffie grinned. "It's been a while since I fought an entire army."

Daisy frowned, noticeably.

"I'm kidding."

"You better be. We're here to gather information and nothing else. We can't afford to have this go sideways." She tried to whisper with as much authority as she could, but more people kept appearing, and it was growing more difficult to keep their conversation private."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get it done," Yuffie said. She pointed at herself. "Ninja, remember?"

Daisy's frown deepened. "I'm glad I brought my gun."

"Oh, you worry too much. Now, shoo. We can't be seen together. Pretty girls like us draw attention."

"Just. Be. Careful."

Yuffie grunted in response and slipped away, disappearing into the bodies. She found a place upfront to survey the stage. It was stable but shoddy in design, clearly thrown together from the mess that was there. The lights above them buzzed over the conversation, but louder still were the whirs of the generators that powered them.

From her position, Yuffie could spy Daisy in the back. She stood near the wall, her hands deep in her jacket pockets, her eyes shifting about. Someone might take her to be looking for a friend among the crowd. In Yuffie's opinion, she stuck out sorely and clearly and would draw attention. It would be another thing which Yuffie would have to watch as everything proceeded.

The attendees continued to swell and there was little room left. Anxiety moved through the crowd like the hum of the generators. Everyone was on edge, everyone was excited to hear what Lotus and the Emerald Lotus had to offer, and each seemed interested in supporting the cause.

Yuffie was excited, too, and curious. More than that, Yuffie planned to stop it all that night.

As she moved through the crowd, Yuffie listened. She heard their complaints, about their lives, about Edge, and about the W.R.O. There was no fear, nor fright as she had expected. Instead, there was anger, there was rage, and each murmured complaint spread through the crowd quickly like an echo.

The greatest problem, Yuffie realized, was not that they simply disliked how the W.R.O. functioned. They disliked what it was, disliked it at its core and what it represented. Many viewed it, at best, as an inconvenience, a shackle for their already limited autonomy. At its worst, they thought of it as nothing but another Shinra. Every aspect was criticized, including the military, the Peacekeepers, and the Materia Hunters.

More problematic, Yuffie thought, was that at times she even agreed with them.

The W.R.O. made sure that the distribution of Materia was tightly control in an effort to keep dangerous Materia out of the hands of those who would abuse it. After Shinra's fall, the world fell into chaos. People who had been stripped of their freedoms found those very same freedoms returned in an instance and had little means of self-control. Even the kind ones grew cruel, and people went wild.

Yuffie saw things in the field that proved to her the need of the W.R.O. and of the Hunter organizations. There were rings of women ensnared by manipulate spells and forced to do unspeakable things. Thugs weaponized fire and lightning materia to harass local towns. In one particularly gruesome case, a Wutai veteran still suffering from the stress of the war used ice materia to capture and freeze visiting tourists alive. He watched them die slowly in his basement, frozen into glistening statues.

The W.R.O. wasn't perfect. Nothing was, but it gave the world the order it needed. To the people here, it was just another big organization bullying its way into power, and sometimes Yuffie could see that. There were secrets, and she knew that, and there was red tape. Sometimes, the wrong people were in charge, like Reed, and there was never enough Cure Materia. Still, without the W.R.O., there wouldn't be anything at all.

Yuffie hated the idea that anyone had to be in charge, but she saw the violence left in the wake of Shinra. Materia was a commodity that, while naturally occurring nature, was in high demand. Most of what was used was manufactured and distributed by Shinra in the first place, and without Shinra to produce the raw goods, global demands could not be met.

The W.R.O.'s solution was to tighten the control of the necessary Materia that remained. They cut distribution of all Cure Materia and came down hard on those who might horde it. Healing Huts were established, formal, government run clinics that initially ran on good intentions. When costs of operations rose, however, so did the cost of service. In time, the huts became one of the most profitable endeavors the company had.

The problem, Yuffie thought, was with the W.R.O.'s size, not its agenda. Any adequately large organization will require funding, and though a mysterious benefactor of some sort was there in the beginning, it is impossible to fund an entire military out of one's pocket. So, a decision had to be made, and it seemed that the World-or the people on it, at least-needed a government more than they needed a helping hand.

Regardless, for Yuffie, all of the complaints eventually bled into each other and, in time, were simply cynical. She waded through the people, making a quick round before returning to the stage. She wasn't here for this, for them. They weren't the enemy, but disgruntled men and women disenfranchised and easily manipulated. No, she was there for the true Emerald Lotus, and for Lotus himself.

Minutes passed, and then an hour, and then there was movement in the crowd. The soldiers outside moved in, followed by an assortment of other lotus soldiers. There were over a dozen, who take places within the crowd and around it, men and women both. A few more worked in the shadows among the lights. Yuffie could hardly see them in the darkness, adjusting lights, preparing for the show.

A group of soldiers made their way to the stage, led by a tall man, stout in the shoulders, with a dark mustaches and closely cropped hair. All of them wore their green lotus uniforms, but he kept his open, revealing his sculpted chest and a tattoo of a behemoth of his left pectoral. He approached the microphone and tapped it. The reverberation whined through the speakers.

Yuffie winced.

"Hello, everyone." He spoke with a Junon-drawl, but it was light, which meant he travelled. His movements were easy, with a nearly imperceptible limp. Yuffie figured him a former Shinra soldier, here only because it meant that the W.R.O. would be hurting. He didn't believe in the cause, just in the pain. "It is truly wonderful to see so many of you here, so many who can live with open eyes and open hearts. On this site, not long ago, a war was fought with human lives for human lives. Shinra monetized us and enslaved us with mako energy, and they burned away anyone who disagreed. Now, we stand here to make sure that the usurpers, the W.R.O., do not do the same.

"Make no mistake. The rhetoric is different, but they are not. Same system, different suits," he said calmly. His eye contact was firm and well-placed. He knew how to work a crowd, and he barked orders with experience. The crowd murmured amiably around her, and Yuffie could feel the energy shifting. It was stirring, hardening, galvanizing from a disorganized discontent into a focused hatred.

"But tonight will be the beginning, the beginning of true change. Tonight, will be a revelation!" He cast a grin out at everyone. "The Emerald Lotus is here now, to help you see, and to help you act. Together, we will change this world. We will cut away your shackles and return to you the freedoms taken by a money-hungry government that pretends to serve you while it shackles you instead. We will show you that your freedom was never taken away at all, that it was only hidden away behind a mirage of lies and false institutions."

A storm of applause interrupted him. Yuffie could feel the bodies moving around her, the heat of their bodies surrounding her and suffocating her, and all of it made more intense by the intensity and the buzz of the lights. Now, the crowd was a single body, clapping together, listening together.

Silence settled. The soldier paced along the stage. His footfalls echoed through the enclosed space. Sweat gathered now, glistened on his body beneath the heat of the lamps. His grin remained, looking less friendlier by the minute, looking hungry and animal, looking violent. "But I am just a man, as all of you are just men. Together, we are more. Together, we are the Emerald Lotus, a body of men working together toward something more. Toward one. Unified. Goal. A free world for all." Another roar of applause, and then silence. He looked out at the crowd. "We are a vision of what could be, of what should be-an end of a corrupt empire built on the warm ashes of Shinra's cold corpse." He leaned forward, staring out at everyone, out at Daisy and Yuffie. "The W.R.O. is a disease and we? We are the cure!"

More thunderous applause that grew wilder and louder by the minute. The soldier on the stage ate it up. His eyes sparkled, especially when he lifted his hand and brought silence with that single gesture.

"But I go on too far. I'm not here to incite you to rebellion-no, that's not my job. Because I am just like you, a man from a broken home, with a broken life that was taken away from be by those sheep too broken and weak to leave the herd. In fact, the only reason I am here today is because I was saved, by the Emerald Lotus, and by the vision of one man who hears our voice, sees our suffering, and knows how to fix it."

The soldier stepped back, his arms outstretched, and allowed another man to take the stage. This new man appeared from the shadows, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. He moved like liquid, slipping smoothly across the stage, seeming more to float than to walk. He wore flowing green robes, richly embroidered with gold trim. His hood was up, partially obscuring a white mask, painted with streaks of red and gold. Thin, black eye slits were all that he could see from.

The crowd was awed into silence, and the soldier seemed amused by it. He handed off the microphone and took his place near the stage's rear. The masked man approached the edge of the stage and stared out at the crowd, unmoving, impassive. When he spoke, his voice was strong, resonant, but possessed a youthful energy.

"Once upon a time, before the rise of Shinra, even before the natural resource that is Materia was found or known, the ancient people of Wutai used a single flower, a cure-all, to ease all their ails. It was small and frail, crowned by tiny eight petals, and a deep, rich green in color. Growing in the shallows of ponds, it floated across the surface of the water like a shooting star. The flower in the center was so rich in color, some thought it was a jewel-an emerald.

"In those times, it was used by the men and women of the Wutai tribes to heal wounds, to fight disease, and, in some rituals, to see visions of hte future. As time passed, and as technology advanced, this practice was forgotten, as so many things. It became a myth. A aged parable, its practice abandoned in favor of modernity. Yet, in truth, it was once a primary regent in the potions of old, used to heal small lacerations, continuing to ease the suffering of the people.

"That was the Emerald Lotus-that for which we are named-and just as it healed, so shall we. We will be the cure this world needs, expunging the poison of lies and the corruptions of the soul which spoil it. We will lead the world toward a new future, one of mended wounds that were once left to fester by corporate greed and hunger for power. We will be the balm required to wipe away the suffering of the common people and to find them comfort where once there was none."

He paused, purposefully, and Yuffie noted that his mask was Wutai in design. It looked almost like a bird, like the masks she would wear as a child. It was of old design, familiar yet foreign.

"Brick-by-brick," he said, "The W.R.O. has created everything that they meant to destroy in Shinra, and we have, in our fear and our doubt, let them do it. I survived the razing of my home at Shinra hands, the enslavement of my people, and the tortures of my body as so many of you have, and now that Shinra is dead, a new taskmaster has risen to prolong my suffering and the suffering of all those whom it tramples upon. Its vile mouth spouts sickening lies, pregnant with pain and the disease of complacency. It claims to be different, but offers no proof. Where is my family? Where is my home? I see nothing returned, nothing avenged, just the same crimes, committed upon a people who welcome them with open arms.

"I am no leader, people. I am a Lotus, a simple vision, a spirit of righteous change conjured here to end your suffering, to repel this virulent sickness." He paused. Everyone held their breath. "You will suffer no more. W.R.O. uses honey words to hide the poison, but you will not swallow. A seed of rebellion has been planted, and is ready to flower, and it is our hands which will pluck its ripened fruit of freedom and eat eagerly.

"Which is why we will fight, and it is why we will win. Trust me, trust in this vision of a world changed, and fight alongside me. For, it is only if we fight that we will truly ever be free."

The silence continued. There was no noise, not even a cough, and for a moment Yuffie thought that his words had missed their mark. Then, she turned about to find the truth written upon their faces. This crowd hadn't simply listened, they believed, and they now worshipped him. They saw in him every complaint answered, every hunger met, every pain eased, and every hurt avenged. He was more than their leader, now. He was their only hope.

"Now, for the truth-we are fighting a war, and it will be a war to the death. The W.R.O. has grown fat and drunk on its power, and it will not let go easily. We are fighting an army of the faithful, zealots so indoctrinated by their slave-masters that they are leashed like dogs, eating scraps discarded from the table because they fear anything else, everything else, including themselves.

"Violence will happen. It is unfortunate, but it is inevitable. Words have not worked and will not suffice anymore, not against those so sick with greed that they can no longer hear. The pen is no longer enough, for our enemy is the gil itself. No, we will use weapons to write our messages instead, and we will see it writ in flame and blood. The body has grown necrotic. We must see it cauterized before the infection spreads.

"So, we will fight. We will take our futures from those who would shepherd us against our wills. We will wage this final war, end this final crisis, and see ourselves free from the cages they have built, brick-by-brick, about us. We will become heroes in the memories of everyone who follows and, more importantly, we will be free."

Now, the silence was broken, and this time they erupted into noise. All around her was a sea of flailing limbs. Yuffie spied Daisy in the back, looking pale and frightened. They made eye contact, and that is when Yuffie realized she must have looked the same. They traded nods, and Yuffie disappeared into the bodies. Lotus began speaking again.

"I am glad to have your support, and now, a demonstration. Today, we will send them a message. A declaration of war, for it is only right of us to treat our enemy with respect, even as they kick at us like dogs. And I know just the message to send. Yuffie Kisaragi, if you could help us with that task."

Yuffie, part way to the exit, back to the stage, stopped and turned. She stared up onto the stage, into the slender eye-slits of his mask, and she swore that she could feel him smiling. The bodies around her parted, giving her a long, narrow view of the stage. He stood there, one hand up, holding the microphone, ready to speak.

"I knew you were here all along," he said. "How could I not? A hero of the Jenova War, savior from the meteor fall, and now leashed and collared and trained to attack on command? Why have you come here today? To sniff me out? To bite first before we bite back for all of your master's crime? Or are you afraid that I may yet have some valuable Materia to share when you have so hard to keep it out of the hands of those who truly needed it?"

All eyes were fixed on her now. Soldiers moved through the crowd and into position. They bodies around her were stiff. They watched her with a mixture of uncertainty and awed frightened. When they shifted, it was only to put distance between themselves and her.

Yuffie tugged back oner hood and tossed her glasses to the side. "Man, is this embarrassing. I was just trying to crash your party, but I get noticed everywhere I go anymore. Must be the price of being famous, huh?"

"Must be," Lotus said, smiling. "So, please tell me, and everyone else here, why you really came."

"Just wanted to take a peek at your little club," she said. "I was thinking about joining, but…" She looked at an approaching soldier, who stopped when her gaze fixed on him. "I don't like the outfits."

The soldier retreated back into the crowd.

"Ah, but you must have stayed long enough to memorize the faces of those here so that you can take our families away when we sleep."

"Oh, please. You're painting some kind of picture here, but I think it's looks mostly like a load of crap."

"Art can be subjective," he said. "Regardless, we know your rhetoric, and we know your rules, and we will not be subjected to them."

"Yeah, so let's talk about rules. Like the ones you do want to play by, where you get everything you want and you don't give one thought to anyone who might be hurt in the process."

"The only thing I want is what it right, based on my own conscious and not on the gil-lined pockets of those who have bought me into slavery. I will not bow down to some dictator, nor kiss the boot of a man who kicks me down."

"Oh, I'll be the one kicking you in a second." Yuffie noticed how the crowd was thinning around her. More soldiers were appearing in their ranks, forming a wide circle around her. They were thinking to strike but too afraid to make the first move. She looked at each one in turn. "Listen, the W.R.O. just wants to help you. We just want to create order."

"And why is it that the W.R.O. has to create order," Lotus asked, no longer holding the microphone to his mask. He didn't need to. No one was speaking to interrupt him. "Why can't we do that on our own? Why do we need someone else to tell us how to live civilly? And if we do need direction, who made them the ones to give it?"

"Oh my..." Yuffie growled at him. "You're ridiculously, you know that? You'll just take anything I say or do and turn it against me at this point?"

"It's easy to do when you're doing wrong," Lotus said. "But, I understand. You're a good dog. Reeve has kept you well-trained."

"Keep talking, I'll you'll see how well-trained I really am?"

Lotus laughed now. "And what will you do? Assault me as you assaulted the patrons of the Wasteland?" He pointed toward her. "Look now, everyone, and see the W.R.O.'s true face. Force against used first against any form of opposition. If they can't buy them, they threaten them, and if that doesn't work, then the problem is made to disappear." His voice deepened now, and he stared at her, pointedly, through the dark eye-slits of his mask. "The problem is, Yuffie Kisaragi, I am not afraid of you, and I will bow no more."

"We'll see about that," she said. "I think I'll have you on your knees very soon!"

She charged, blind and made. The soldiers around her broke their holding pattern, but they could not intercept her properly. Their movements were sluggish, hesitant, and disorganized. By the time she was at the stage, most of them had hardly taken their first fumbled steps.

At the stage, he leapt, and she flipped through the air, drawing Materia at apex and conjuring its power as she fell. A spark of electricity jumped from from her palms. She grabbed it with her free hand and tossed it out, a long, flashing lance of thunder made an arc toward Lotus, and it died before reaching him.

He stood still, watched her descent. She replaced the Materia with her a knife and and swung for him, but she hit the empty air. Lotus sidestepped her attack. He moved like liquid or like the air, silently and formless. She lunged forward, toward his chest, and found herself falling short. He stopped her with a kick to the chest, knocking her from the stage and back onto the hard, cracked earth.

Yuffie rolled to a stop and staggered to her feet. Lotus stood motionless now, and he watched her. She drew her Materia again and tried to draw writhing, hot lightning from her its interior, but she felt nothing. The stone was inert, not even drawing on her to power itself.

"What's wrong? Is your Materia failing you?" He exposed a single, gloved hand to her, and display the small device resting in his palm. A red button at the end of it was glowing brightly. "We found a solution to our Materia problems, you know, one which will level the playing field moving forward. It's called a Materia Jammer, and when activated, all Materia within a fifty-foot radius is rendered useless."

"That's fine," she said, yanking her hoodie off and tossing it aside. Beneath, she wore a sleeveless green vest and a pair of black sleeve that are lined with empty Materia. She eased into a wide stance, arms up and close to her body. "Won't need Materia to knock your ass up and down the stage."

"So, I've heard," Lotus said, voice even. "You are quite the fighter, aren't you? Overcame the Five Gods of the Pagoda at the age of fifteen." A tall woman with long, dark hair and a form-fitting dress approached him from behind, and she took the microphone and jammer from him. "We'll see how long you last."

Yuffie threw a dagger and charged once again, but this time Lotus moved to meet her. With one hand, he knocked the dagger away with one easy movement, and he leapt from the stage, meeting her on the ground. She punched forward and found herself caught by the arm. He grabbed her by the forearm and held her close to whisper in her ear.

"Yuffie Kisaragi, the daughter of the great Gotoh Kisaragi, lord of Wutai, highest of the five Gods. I had thought you better than this."

"I am just rusty," she said, yanking her arm from his grasp and trying her bed to grab at him in return. He moved with her, taking her other arm and kneeing her in the gut before turning her around and pushing her forward and away from him. "I was speaking of your character, but, if you need proper incentive, I think we've found it."

Yuffie stumbled to a stop. Ahead of her, pinned against the wall, she found Daisy, held in the arms of a tall, blond woman with glowing eyes. "Daisy!"

"Yuffie!"

She cursed to herself and then said, "Okay, sit tight." Turning, she went back into her stance. "I'll clean this up quick!"

Lotus laughed. "My, you do think highly of yourself, don't you?"

"You've done your homework. You know I can back all of this up."

"I know that you will claim to."

"Oh, man, you have no idea how much I am going to enjoy punching that mask straight into your skull."

"Try."

Yuffie made another charge, moving head down and angry, swinging hard and finding that he wasn't there. He made a small, discreet circle around her. They stopped in unison and came back toward each other. Yuffie brought her left fist around, back at him, but he ducked under.

This continued, strike and evasion, strike and evasion, looking more like a dance than a battle. Each near miss made her madder, made her reckless. She moved in closer within his reach and tried to tangle his feet with her own. He staggered, and she swung for his face only to have him catch her by the arm and swing her around.

He pinned her against the stage, held her in place by leverage her up against her. Then, he kicked her in the side, knocking the air from her. She slipped to her knee and braced with her free arm against the stage.

"Weren't the people of Wutai supposed to be good at hand-to-hand combat?"

"Oh, would you just. Shut. Up!" She wriggled from his grasp and gave a wide kick toward his head. Lotus caught her by the ankle and pushed, knocking her to the ground. She landed hard and rolled away, pushing off against the stage to continue her assault.

Next, she produced her knife and swiped for the mask, for his face. He stayed close, allowing her to leave a slender scar across his mask, but she was unable to pin him down. At this point, he was playing with her, appearing and disappearing from will, dancing around her with delicate steps.

"Come on. Hit me."

Yuffie growled and swung hard, blade angled down to catch him in the shoulder and tear. He stopped, still, feet rooted to the earth, and she felt the thrill of bloodshed and of victory, when a handful of dust appeared in her vision. She screamed, and he took her by the wrist and twisted the dagger from her hand.

She coughed and staggered back, rubbing the dust from her eyes while he continued to circle her. He kept the knife in his hands, regarding it casually as she spoke to her. "Truly," he said, "I am disappointed. I was told you were a hero. A legend. But like all legends, it seems like every single word of you is a lie."

Yuffie, in her anger, swung wild, and she could feel him just out of reach. He stayed close, his presence static, moving just out of reach, just to the side. Finally, as she grew desperate and weak, he met one of her swings with a kick to the gut and knocked the air from her.

"It seems captivity has dulled your fangs," he said. "Have your masters pampered you with shiny gifts?"

"Big talk for someone who has done nothing but dance around me. What, afraid to break a nail?" Yuffie stopped, and she dug in her feet, and she tried her best to remember everything she had learned.

Before that day, before the Hunters, Tifa had taught Yuffie, trained her in hand-to-hand combat, and she taught her the greatest secret of the martial arts school which she studied as a teen. Tifa had called it a Death Blow. It was a forced tricial strike. To do it right, Yuffie had to wait for the right moment and put herself into the blow. If successful, it would be swift, and it would be decisive, and the battle would end immediately.

Lotus came to a stop. There was a smile in his voice. "This game has gone on long enough. Watch, everyone, as I end a legend."

Now, he aggressed. He made toward her, ands he dug in her feet and closed her eyes, centering herself and clearing everything else out. The world disappeared around her, safe for a warm, faint breeze, and the light scraping of his footfalls in the dirt. Balling both fists, she waited, and she struck, and she hit...nothing.

He took her by the arms and used her momentum against her. Redirecting the energy, he brought her around and face-first into the stage. Her nose cracked. Flesh parted. She could taste blood in her mouth as she spun her around and landed a hard blow in her gut. The blow knocked the wind from her and left her staggered. She sought out the stage again, braced back against it for support. It hurt to breath, and she felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder. Reaching up, she found the hilt of her knife there, where he had sunk the blade in.

Her vision returned, blurred and edged with darkness. With one hand, Lotus took her under the arm and with the other, he held her by the knife. A knee to the stomach knocked what returning air she had and left her on her knees. He dropped her there, allowing her finally to fall flat onto her back, wheezing.

"I won't kill you," he said, placing a foot on her face and pushing her into the dirt and the blood. "I will let you live, so long as you deliver a message. Tell your masters that I am coming, that WE are coming, and that there is nothing that can be done to stop my revolution." Lifting his foot, he brought it down and kicked her, hard, across the face.

Her head jerked; the world spun wildly. A splash of blood painted the dirt around her. The lights grew blinding and painful, and then dimmed. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was a vision of Daisy, chest out, stomach open, a blade sticking from her gut.


	4. Third Mission

Midgar Wastes: W.R.O. Hunter's Lodge—Infirmary\

Yuffie remembered the night in flashes. She remembered falling in the dirt. She remembered swallowing blood. She remembered Daisy bent backward, neck exposed, blade jutting from her opened chest. She remembered the blinding light, brilliant, burning her eyes, whiting her vision. Then, she remembered nothing.

She woke up later, with bruised limbs and I.V.s fixed to her flesh. It hurt to open her eyes. The white walls and white sheets blinded her. The mechanical beeps about her split her ears. She winced and made to move, but her body wouldn't comply. She was too tired, too stiff. Bound by lethargy and by hurt, she was stuck in bed for a time.

She blinked existence into definition. The curtain was pulled. A small monitor to her right showed her heart beat. It hurt to breathe.

Lotus' voice echoed in her head. It was a faint whisper, a faint warning, and a proclamation all at once. She tried to remember him, to hold onto his voice, to his body, to everything that happened. It echoed through her, a memory with more value to it than she could truly understand. Somewhere, in the back of her head, she remembered it, remembered him. They were connected, she simply didn't know how.

She could smell flowers and, turning her head with difficulty, found a vase sitting beside her. It housed a splash of color that carried her away to another time. Once, when she was young, she stood on the edge of a cliff outside of Wutai and stared into the village. The flowers grew up to her waist.

On that day, she wasn't alone. Someone was there with her, a boy or a man, she couldn't properly recall. She did remember his voice. He spoke with her calmly, clinically, careful with his words, careful with her. More than that, he cared deeply, and when she turned to face him, he wore a robe and a mask, and she could see dark eyes through slit holes in his mask.

He spoke to her of Wutai requiem.

The hurt brought her back. Lotus' blows had been quick and hard, and she could still feel them in her bones. He hadn't killed her, but he could have. He wanted to use her to send a message, and he wrote that message in her wounds. She closed her eyes to ride out the humiliation and the hurt.

A shadow appeared against the curtain, a human shadow, and beside her the heart monitor made its mechanical bleat. Yuffie sat up, slowly and with effort, ignoring the pain that rippled through her. Her body hurt so much that it transmuted her memories; she could hardly remember a time when she didn't hurt.

She breathed, though, and she endured.

With slow, careful movements, she removed the catheter from her arm and slid across the bed. Holding the railing, she lifted herself and braced. The world spun for a moment. She breathed through the hurt, gave her body the time it required to steady. Then, she removed everything attached to her and turned off the monitor before it could alert anyone.

Holding the wall, she made a series of small, unsteady steps toward the curtain. Stopping, she balanced against the wall and tugged the curtain to the side, revealing Daisy on the other side. Her dark hair was a mess of curls. Her body was one giant bandage.

Yuffie took another deep breath. This time, she looked away. She found her clothes in a nearby bin, washed and folded. She dressed, slowly, pausing at regular intervals to cringe through the pain, and she left her gown draped across the bed. On the way out, she made sure not to look at Daisy again. One time was enough.

A nurse met her in the hall, a dark-haired woman with bright blue eyes and a gentle, trained smile. Yuffie passed calmly. She didn't make eye contact, but she did offer a strained smile. Behind her, the woman turned and followed her. Yuffie staggered away, faster, until her legs gave out. The nurse was there to catch her when she fell.

"Ms. Kisaragi, wait! What're you doing out of bed?"

"I'm fine." Yuffie pushed the woman away and braced against the wall. She shouldn't be so weak, she thought, even with her injuries, and she wondered if it were the drugs. She shook her head, trying hard to ignore the way the lights sparkled and swayed. Pain jumped up her spine, and her vision went dark briefly.

"Ms. Kisaragi, you need your rest."

"No." Yuffie pushed along the wall, stumbling forward, staring fixedly at the end of the hall, at the exist. Reed entered from there, smiling at her, speaking taunts. He moved like the air, gliding toward her.

"Can't listen to anyone, can you?"

"Shut up!" She swung at the air, staggered, and fell back against the wall, panting.

"Ms. Kisaragi..."

"It's just like you," Reed whispered in her ear, a taunt in his voice, "Swinging at ghosts."

"SHUT! UP!" She lunged forward, kicked at the wall, and fell.

She lied there, breathless, weeping to herself. Sickness stirred in her gut. She pushed herself to standing, or tried, but she was pale and weak. The nurse seized her by the arm and cradled her waist. She was careful to avoid Yuffie's injuries.

"This is ridiculous," the nurse said, hauling Yuffie up and helping her back toward the room. Somewhere, in the back of her head, she was sure Reed was laughing at her. For a time, she was sure he was real. Now, she isn't so sure.

Her vision faded. She watched the nurse stumbled under Yuffie's weight, braced against the wall as Yuffie faded away.

Yuffie dreamt, then, of a field of flowers, of the dry Wutai mountain air, of the blue sky. She stood among the clouds, watching herself in the flowers, a small girl with a man behind her. She watched herself, decades later, fighting ineffectually, surrounded by people.

"You know me," a voice said to her, and she turned to find no one there. A ceramic mask hung, suspended in the air, a thin scar left across its surface. "This is the message. You know."

"Who are you?"

A laugh, muffled by the mask. "Do you want to know so badly?"

"You said I already know."

"You do." The mask smiled, revealing behind the face of the mountain, stone shifting, expelling dust. Yuffie grabbed the mask, removed it, and found nothing behind it. After that, the dream faded, and she slept, dreamless, thoughtless, through the night.

Yuffie slept soundly, aided by drugs and materia. When she woke, she found Reed waiting. He was watching her in cold, clinical gaze, made all the worse by the sterile white walls. He wore a broad-shouldered business suit, black in color, with a green tie and a folded green cloth in his breast pocket. His hair is comb back.

When he saw her eyes open, she spoke immediately. "Ms. Kisaragi."

Yuffie winced and pulled herself up. "Reed." The pain was gone now, the ache missing, but she felt light-headed and sick to her stomach. "What do you want?"

"Don't get smart." He said it calmly, but there was rage in his voice. "You're in deep enough as it is." He glanced toward the curtain, toward where Daisy's shadow resided. "I hope you are proud of the work you've done."

"I was doing my job."

"You were disobeying orders, and it almost got you and your partner killed." He leaned over on the bed, holding the guard rail tight. She was sure he was just seconds from throttling her. "Your job is find Materia, to control the flow of and stop the illegal distribution of it. It is not, nor will it ever be, espionage or infiltration. All that will do is get you killed."

"The Emerald Lotus ARE smuggling materia! And they're getting out of hand. They've been behind all of the illegal activities around Edge recently, and rumor has it that they're going even bigger than that! You say I'm supposed to stop the illegal distribution of materia in this area? That is what I am doing!"

"This is not in your hands," Reed said, calming. He stood straight and adjusted his tie. "If you can't do this right, Ms. Kisaragi, then maybe we should relocate you. The W.R.O. has a peacekeeping force, and an organized military. We are neither of those, and they don't need us to try. Anything beyond Materia is beyond us, and you seem unwilling to remember that."

"Oh, please! If they were so good at their jobs, then the Emerald Lotus wouldn't be a problem in the first place!"

"You," Reed growled, his jaw tight and his eyes narrowed, "You and your hard head. You think that you can solve everything and prance around pretending to be a hero. But you're no hero, and you never were. You were just a tag-along kid who gets in the way and gets hurt and leaves the mess for others to clean up. Daisy spent her time cleaning up after you like that, and this time it almost got her killed."

Yuffie jerked forward, fists balled, and she stopped short. Behind him, behind the curtain, Daisy slept, and fighting him here could only cause more trouble. So, she glared, but she lacked the animosity from before. Somewhere, in the depths of her, she could feel the bitter truth rising in her gut. Images of Daisy, impaled upon a long, flat blade came to her, as did memories of being captured and pinned to the mountain ranges of Wutai. She hated Reed, but this time, she knew he was right.

He leaned forward, bracing against the wall for support. "And, as things stand now, the Emerald Lotus have gone into hiding without a trace. Leaving only you two behind, presumably as warnings, and nothing else for us to track them by. Congratulations."

"We're messages," Yuffie said, sinking into herself and feeling very small. She hugged her knees. "Not warnings."

"A message? And what were they trying to say?"

She met his eyes and looked away. "Their leader, he wanted me to tell you, to tell Reeve, that they're coming. Whatever that means."

Reed sighed and rubbed his hair, messing it briefly before smoothing it back. He leaned against the wall. "Of course they air." Then, standing straight, "However foolish it was of you to go there, it is still very bold of them to go so far as to hurt you. I fear our time in Edge may be coming to a premature end."

Yuffie sat up. "What? Why? What about the Materia smuggling here?"

"As you said yourself, all of the Materia here is tied to them, and they're much more than a simple smuggling ring. The hard truth is, they're too much for us to handle. This is best left to the military."

"But...!"

"And as for you, I've finished looking over your file." He pulled a folder from the edge of the bed and tossed it into her legs. Yuffie picked it up and glanced over it.

"I'm fine now."

"No, you're not." A smile cut its way onto his face. It was humorless and cruel. "Starting today, you're on medical leave due to the injuries sustained in the line of service."

"Reed!"

"Don't say I can't, because I can and I have, and if you continue this insubordination, I will have you removed from the Hunters entirely." Reed turned then, and made for the door. He stopped with the door open, his hand rested on the doorknob. "Take the time to gather yourself, Ms. Kisaragi, and really think about what it is you should be fighting for." He looked her in the eyes. "Because, whatever it is you're fighting for now, it's not enough."

It took everything in her to hold the folder until he left. Then, she threw it at the door as hard as she could and rolled over, hugging herself tight and fighting hard not to scream or to cry.

After some time alone, the conversation with Reed left Yuffie feeling restless. So, she rose from the bed and pushed her way past the attending nurse and out into the hall. She walked, aimlessly, to stretch her limbs and clear her thoughts. After a few minutes, she found herself standing in front of the training room.

Like the rest of the Hunter's Lodge, the training room was located underground. It was a large, circular room with reinforced cement walls and padded floors. The ceilings had a series of large, rounded, reflective disks that could be used for a holographic interface. By taking a right at the entry way, she could find her way to the weight room. To the left was an area for live firearms.

Yuffie started on a treadmill to work the kinks from the body. It had been a few days since she was really up and around, and while the ache was gone from her bones, she still felt tired and stiff. When that was solved, she went to run basic drills in the training room. Holographic enemies attacked in waves. By this point, she knew the patterns and matched them precisely, dodging attacks, striking at expected openings. The enemies dissolved into particles each time her limbs passed through them.

It was a light workout but rewarding, stretching her limbs and clearing the cobwebs from her mind. More than that, it gave her time to really think about everything that had happened to her. The harsh truth was that Reed wasn't her real problem. He was only an exacerbation. The real problem was the rally, the Emerald Lotus, and Lotus himself.

The damage done to her that night was more than physical. Her pride was wounded, and something was haunting her. Something intangible lingered at the back of her mind, like a whisper she couldn't quite hear. She knew him, recognized him in his voice and his movements. He was Wutai to her, but she didn't know why.

She stopped to adjust the program, upgrading the battle parameters to a higher setting. After, she sunk down into a battle stance and waited. Since childhood, Yuffie has practiced stealth. She was a more a spy than a soldier, but during her adventures with the team, she learned what she could from them. When assigned ot the Hunters, she took time away to train under Tifa, and she had thought that would be enough.

Lotus proved her wrong. He taught her that there was still so much for her to learn.

Yuffie tried to emulate Tifa's style as best she could, but there were differences between them. Tifa was focused and quick. Her movements were efficient and strong, and no matter how hard Yuffie punched, she lacked the raw striking power Tifa had. So, she adapted it, focusing on precision and speed. Tifa could turn a glancing blow into a killing strike. Yuffie, on the other hand, couldn't allow for glancing blows.

She lost herself to exercise. She worked her body hard, perhaps past its limits, and she continued pushing herself harder and further. Sweat dripped from her body, and by the end she was bent over and breathing hard.

Oliver watched from the entryway. He was leaned against one wall with his arms crossed. He wore a dark tank top and a pair of grey sweats. "Shouldn't you be resting?" He asked it as he approached her, carrying a green gym bag over his shoulder.

Yuffie righted herself and gathered her breath. "That's what they think, but I know better." She stretched with her arms overhead. "I can't stand lying around in a bed all day."

"I guess I understand that." Oliver opened his bag and pulled a bottle of water from it. He tossed it to her. It was still cold to the touch, and she held the bottle to her skin before drinking deeply of it. "Be careful, though. You wouldn't want all of their hard work to go to waste."

"Their hard work," she muttered, and she drank again. She sprayed some across her face for good measure. "I'll be fine. I've taken worse beatings, believe it or not."

"That doesn't mean that this one wasn't bad."

"It wasn't," she said.

"Maybe not for you," he said quietly. They made eye contact. He looked away first and scratched his chin. "Listen, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"No," she said, looking fixedly at the ground. "You're right. Daisy got hurt because we—because I—was careless."

"Sounds to me like you were right for the first time," Oliver said. "You both were." He dropped his bag to the ground, against the wall. "But what were you thinking? Why didn't you call for back-up?"

"We didn't expect things to go so bad," she said. "Reed wouldn't have helped, anyway."

"Then you should have called me."

"Please, you wouldn't have been any more help."

"That's not fair," he said. "I would have told you it was a bad idea from the beginning, yes, because it WAS a bad idea, but I would have been there. I would have helped."

"You wouldn't have..." Yuffie stopped and went quiet. She felt tired, finally, and she didn't have it in her to fight. She traced her left thumb along the water bottle's cap, felt the cold, damp shape of it in her palms. "You're right," she said. "Sorry about Daisy."

Oliver, quiet now, rubbed the back of his neck. He looked away. "Yeah. Me, too."

Silence settled. Oliver went to the control panel. "You done?" He saw Yuffie nod and started fiddling with the information, adjusting the parameters for his own work. Yuffie dropped the water bottle against the wall and met him at the console.

"You know, you shouldn't waste your time with this stuff," she said, reaching past him and clearing all of the work he had done with a single press of a button. "It's always better to have a living opponent, don't you think?"

Oliver looked at her. He sighed. "Yuffie, that isn't a good idea."

She made a face, with her eyes rolled back and her tongue protruding. "Yuffie, that isn't a good idea." She snorted. "Sorry, I didn't know that you were a coward."

He frowned. "You really want this?"

She paced away from him, widened her stance and sunk low. Lifting her hands with balled fists, she smiled. "I need a real work out, and I think you've got some aggression with my name on it. Seems like it would do us both a little good."

Oliver eyed her for a moment longer, shook his head, shrugged, and then he joined her in the center of the room. There, he eased into his fighting stance. He kept tighter and more mobile, rocking on his feet, almost bouncing back and forth.

"And no holding back because I'm 'injured,'" she said. "Enemies don't hold back."

"You think I'm your enemy?"

"Let's just play pretend?"

He nodded. "Fine, if that's what you want."

"And one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"No complaining when you lose."

"Same goes for you," he said.

"Look at that," Yuffie said, laughing mirthlessly, "Looks like someone found their sense of humor."

Oliver held his own. Yuffie was faster, but her injuries left her slow and hesitant. Oliver never exploited these weaknesses. He fought skillfully, with expert precision and care, and he kept pace with her as she attempted to dance around him.

They finished side-by-side, winded and slightly bruised. After, they went to the surface patio outside of the cafeteria and shared the shade offered by one of the umbrellas. From this side of the building, they could see the distant sea. It was a dark black line that covered the width of the horizon. A warm breeze carried the smell of salt to them.

Yuffie was hunched over the table, hugging her knees, sitting on the water Oliver gave her earlier. It was mostly empty now, and she chewed the cap. The fatigue left her feeling productive and, thus, contented. A towel was draped around her shoulder, another gift from Oliver.

Oliver sat in the chair beside her, reclined back, legs folded, holding his own water. He had a towel draped over his armrest. He had only wiped his face once before folding it up and leaving it there.

They were there a few minutes before Oliver spoke. He said, "For what it's worth, I do agree with Reed. You need your rest."

"Of course you do," Yuffie said, eyes fixed on the distance. "You're a suck up!"

"Hey! I am not!"

"You are," she said. "If you don't want to be one, then stop sucking up."

"I'm not a suck-up, Yuffie. I'm just worried."

"Then you're a worried suck-up," she said. "And there's nothing to worry about. I've been through..."

"..way worse. You keep saying that." He leaned forward in his seat. "Listen, I know you're a hero of the Jenova War. Everyone does. You talk about it all the time, but that was a long time ago and things have changed. The world has changed. And so have you."

"I'm not talking about the Jenova War."

"Then what are you talking about? The Deep Ground Incident? And how much help were you to Vincent in the end."

Now, Yuffie sat up, and she glared at him.

"I'm just being honest, Yuffie. Sure, you've been in some dire situations, but you've never been in one alone." He held her gaze, unflinching and unafraid, his disapproval written in the set of his jaw and the fire in his eyes. "But, this time you're alone, because all of us are out of our depths. We're not heroes. So what if YOU'VE made it through worse. We haven't. I haven't, and Daisy hasn't. And I don't know if you have what it takes to drag us out like they dragged you out."

Yuffie opened her mouth to speak, closed it when she had nothing. Daisy's wounds weighed heavily on her, as did the bloody bandages and the sight the other woman, torn in half by a massive blade. Unable to speak, Yuffie chewed her cap lid and glared at him like a toddler.

Oliver took his towel and shoved it away in its back along with the water bottle. Then, he stood, taking his bag with him. He stood beside the table with the bag over his shoulder. "And it's not that I don't believe in you—either of you. It's that seeing Daisy torn up like that..." he shook his head. "I just want you to be safe, okay?"

"Thanks," Yuffie said, her pout lingering. "But I can take care of myself.

"I know, and we've talked about that, but the Emerald Lotus we're talking about," he said. "Listen, I've been looking into them, after what happened to you two, and they're big trouble, Yuffie. They're gaining momentum, and what they are saying sounds good to a lot of people."

"Stupid people," Yuffie said, but she remembered the rally. She frowned around her bottle. "They're crazy."

"Stupid people? Or maybe they're scared, Yuffie. Look at the world! At the W.R.O.! There's a lot of unchecked power there."

Yuffie glared now. She pulled the water away from her lips and slammed it down on the table. "Oh, come on! You can't be serious here. What? Do you think Shinra was better?"

"No, and I don't think the Emerald Lotus does, either. I just think—maybe there should be more than just the two options."

"Where in the world is this coming from, Oliver? What, are you that scared that you're going to start doubting us now? We're doing good work, saving people, protecting them from the bad guys who would use them or use Materia to hurt them. Think about all of the things Shinra did, that they did with Materia, and what could be done if it's not under control."

"Exactly, and now the W.R.O. is hoarding it for themselves." He shook his head and stepped away from the table. "It doesn't matter now, though," he said, adjusting his bag and stopping at the door. "This is what it is. So, what are you going to do with yourself now that you're off active duty?"

Still frowning, Yuffie tossed her bottle away into a nearby trash bin. "What do you think?"

"Knowing you? You're going to keep going just to spite Reed."

A small smile blossomed onto Yuffie's face. She chuckled to herself. "Probably, but not JUST to spite him. I mean, the spite helps..." She looked him in the eyes. "Why? You going to tattle?"

Oliver, smiling as well, paused. He shook his head, and the smile faded. "No, but I will warn you to be careful, if for no other reason, than this Lotus guy sounds dangerous."

"He is," she said, and she looked out into the distance. The sun was dipping, burning the sky into a brilliant orange. "But that's all the more reason that he needs to be stopped and stopped hard."


	5. Fourth Mission

Edge: Town Square\

Meteor Fall had forever changed the world. In the wake of the final battle with Sephiroth, Midgar was destroyed. The Sister Ray, along with the Holy spell, caused reactors to erupt in a furious display of the planet's power. The sky glowed, on that day, and the world shook.

Survivors from the slums and the plate alike gathered together, and they founded a new city on the outskirts of the old. Called Edge, it became a refuge for some, a home in time, and a fresh start for everyone. Working together, the people of Edge built for themselves a bright new furture, and they clung to it tightly. Since, they have endured many a trial, including Sephiroth's Remnants and return, as well as the invasion of Deep Ground and the activities that followed.

Once a year, to celebrate the founding of the city and its continued survival, the populace take to the streets with floats, balloons, and fireworks. This Founding Festival, as it was called, started as an informal gathering that quickly grew into a city-wide event. In time, it even drew the attention of nearby cities and brought in crowds. With the W.R.O.'s investment in the city, which it often called its throne, the festival flourished further.

Yuffie spent her time with Tifa and the kids at the festival. They woke early and walked the streets, visiting sidewalk markets and enjoying food and games. By noon, they were ready for a break and took lunch at a small, street side cafe near the town square. The sky was clear and blue, that day, and the air warmed by unrestrained sunlight.

Leaning back in her chair, stretching her arms overhead, Yuffie took the city in. People had flooded the streets. Streamers were hung from every building. The Edge she knew was lost in the hubbub, which was good. Normally, the town was all cement and steel, a testament to mankind's ingenuity and resolve colored on in muted greys. The festival, however, and the people, brought it to life. Today, the city shined.

It had been days since she left the Lodge, calling Tifa for a ride and refusing to go back. She has grown lazy and, in her own eyes, soft in the time, sulking around the bar and coming out only at Tifa's insistence. Sometimes, Tifa liked to send her on errands. It was just to keep Yuffie busy and, while Yuffie complained, she was also secretly grateful. When left to herself she thought, about Reed, about Lotus, and about Daisy.

Tifa gathered the plates together after their meal and stacked them carefully with the silverware on-top. "I'm glad you could make it out with us," she said, speaking as she always did, with a geunine, motherly warmth. Yuffie had been sour for days, and if Tifa minded, she certainly didn't show it. She was as Yuffie always remembered her, however, tall, strong, graceful, and always forgiving. Even when Yuffie sulk about the house, Tifa cleaned up after her with a sober patience of a saint. "And it's been nice to have someone help me keep an eye on the kids with Cloud off again."

"We don't need an eye on us," Denzel said, sulking in the corner. As he got older, he got taller, and he got moodier. At times, he reminded Yuffie of Cloud as Cloud was when they first met, solemn and laconic. It made Yuffie laugh sometimes, because the older Marlene got, the more even-tempered the young woman became to compensate.

Yuffie spared a glance at Denzel, flashed a grin, and rested her head in her arms, staring across the table at Tifa. "Where is Cloud, anyway?"

"Working," Tifa said, her tone soft. "He's always working anymore."

"Got to pay the bills, doesn't he?"

"Of course, but I'm a bit worried this time," Tifa said. "It's not the usual courier work he does."

"Then what is it?"

"Something for Reeve," Tifa said, sweeping her long hair back over her shoulder. "They wouldn't tell me the details of it."

"Oh. One of those," Yuffie said. She chewed her straw and blew some bubbles into her tea.

From where they were sitting, they could see a large, bulb-like object stationed in the center of the city. A green tarp was leashed to it and held in place by a series of thick riggings that were worked into the asphalt. The W.R.O. emblem—a bronze atlas showing the world they wished to regenerate—was emblazoned on the tarp.

Yuffie sat up to regard it. "Wonder what they're doing over there."

"I think that's the airship Cid was talking about." She stood from the table and bent at the waist just long enough to get a better look. "He was talking about the thing years ago. I have to admit, I wasn't sure he would ever really finish it."

Yuffie leaned back in her chair, holding her stomach and groaning to herself. "Ugh. I wish he hadn't of finished it."

"Why," Marlene asked. She had been quiet to this point, scooping ice cream into her mouth and pretending not to notice whenever Denzel steals a bite. "Airships are amazing. They make it so easy to travel, even over long distances. Without them, I wouldn't be able to see papa nearly as much."

Yuffie grinned, and she reached across and messed Marlene's hair. "Leave it to the book worm to think like that."

"She gets motion sickness," Denzel said, pointedly, and he continued sulking.

"Well," Yuffie said, standing up and leaving the table. "Looks like they're about done setting up now. We should head over and nab the best spots."

"Good idea." Tifa stood with her and directed the directed the kids after her. Everyone gathered their trash and tossed it into the bin. Then, while Tifa took the dishes to back, Yuffie waited with the kids on the sidewalk. When they finished it hardly looked like they had even ate there at all.

The stage was completed when they arrived and the W.R.O. official took their places around it. Reeve moved among them, greeting people, offering smiles. He was as tall and thin as Yuffie remembered, but the years of hard work were showing on him. His face had more lines than she remembered, his hair more gray than before. He stayed healthy, though, and carried with him his characteristic vitality. Watching him, Yuffie wondered where he got all of his energy from.

Half an hour passed as people gathered around them. It reminded Yuffie of the rally, though the energy was different. There was tension, but it was excitement and wondered. Families were gathered with children whispering among themselves. Everyone was safe here, protected by the W.R.O., and they were excited to see what new wonders would be brought to them.

In a way, it reminded Yuffie of everything that she was fighting for.

Fifteen minutes passed, and people continued to gather. A few hundred were in attendance before a call was made for a silence. Among a group of W.R.O. officials—Reeve at their center—a short, round man appeared. His hair was thinning, his face red and wet with sweat. He held a microphone in is pudgy little hands and, looking like a beach ball in a brown suit, took center stage. In front of everyone, he tapped the microphone once, and the single finger-fall echoed through the streets.

The man winced. "My, that is loud, isn't it?" He teetered and laughed, rocking on his heels uncomfortable. Yuffie knew him: the mayor of Edge, a sort of incompetence that gave the Emerald Lotus credence. He was jovial and friendly, but the work he did was limited in reality. With the W.R.O. so close and so involved in the town's politics, he didn't so much run the city as make appearances and try not to be in the way whenever Reeve came by. Many people didn't even know him by his face, and those who did certainly weren't impressed.

As he stared out at the crowd, who stared back, his cheeks grew shiny with sweat. He wiped it, ineffectually, with the napkin in his pocket. "Anyhow, it is a good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for attending. As you know, it has been many long years since the fall of Shinra and the founding of this city, and we, the people of Edge, that is, have really built something great, haven't we?"

He paused, for applause. There was none.

"The, uh, the answer to the question is, of course, yes, yes we have. We've faced trials! Difficult trials, and we've overcome them, those trials. We certainly did." He coughed. It, like his previous finger-fall, echoed through the streets. His cheeks turned a more violent red. "But, we, erm, we didn't survive alone. In fact, we had help. Invaluable help, from the W.R.O., and through those, er, trials, we built a city with their help. And today, that is what we celebrate. Our city. And their help." He looked back, went wide-eyed, stammered. "Oh, and, uh, oh yes, we have a speaker!"

The mayor turned, waving a short, fat arm toward the group of suits, and from them Reeve stood. "Er, Chief Director Reeve, of the W.R.O., when you are ready."

Reeve smiled and stood. A light applause sounded when he took the microphone, and he smiled and adjusted his jacket before speaking. His tie-clip shined in the afternoon light.

"Thank you, mayor, and thank you to everyone here for your warm welcome. I've always been fond of Edge, and I visit as often as I can, because the people here are of the strongest stock this world has ever known. Survivors of Midgar, children of the meteor, enduring attacks by Shinra and its remnants time and time again. Some may think that Edge has only survived with the support of the W.R.O., but I feel the opposite is true. We of the W.R.O. can only survive and thrive as we have because of the hard work and faith of people like you."

Reeve's voice, even his very presence, filled the town square. It dwarfed the massive tarp behind him, dwarfed whatever was beneath it. Whenever Yuffie saw Reeve, she was always struck by how tall he was, how neat he dressed, and how precise his every movement was. Even now, surrounded by people, she felt outnumbered by him.

"The foundation of this city," he continued, "was not a miracle but providence, and its survival was and is inevitable. When you take people who know nothing but survival and challenge them, then they will rise to meet that challenge, and they will overcome it. As you have, and as you will forever continue to do.

"And you will not do it alone. We at the W.R.O. will be there at your sides, helping you as you have helped us since day one. We will guide you when you are lost, feed you when you are hungry, and heal you when you are sick. We will not shepherd you, but walk alongside you, meeting each challenge with you and learning from your example. Overcoming it with you.

"And it is in that spirit that we celebrate today, the day of founding for your lovely city. I have a special treat for you, a surprise of sorts, though I suspect many of you already know what it is." The crowd cheered and laughed, and he gave another smile. "Now, enough from me." He turned toward and gestured at the tarp behind him. "Now for the real show. Cid, take it away."

Behind Reeve, the enormous black straps holding the tarp down snapped off. The tarp fell away, revealing to the crowd the sleek, shining frame of an enormous airship. It was larger than the Shera, with long, steel wings extending from the aft. Enormous fan blades spun, slowly, within the wings. Windows, each a story tall by themselves, covered the front and showed the crew working the bridge. Standing at the helm is Cid, smoking as always, and shouting orders through the cigar.

Yuffie whistled at the reveal. "Okay, even I'm impressed by this. I mean, I'll never ride in the damn thing, but I am still impressed."

Tifa laughed and nudged Yuffie. "Come on, not even a short ride?"

"Tifa, please."

Projectors shot images of the ship across the town, showing different angles of the ship for everyone to see. Still on stage, Reeve began speaking again, his voice clear until the ship's engines roar to life. "This is the newest airship straight from Cid's workshop. Known as the Model 3 Ricard, is boasts a brand new, remodeled engine, upgraded from the original Shera and outclassing her in speed, power, and even fuel efficiency. Within a few months, full production will launch on this model, which will then replace all Model 6 Highwinds and Model 2 Sheras now on the market within only a few years." He turned his smile on the complex mechanics behind him. "And isn't it a sight to behold?"

The crowd roared loudly, stomping and flailing in their praise, competing now with the engines in noise. Even Denzel was impressed enough to take time from his adolescent sulking to cheer alongside everyone else. Marlene had to stop cheering long enough to note his excitement and earn a glare from him in return.

"And now, if we could all wait while Cid gets it into the air, then we can show you that very speed which I was just bragging about."

The crowd falls silent, watching with eager anticipation as the airship came to life. The propeller blades built into the wings gain speed, creating a whirlwind of air and noise around them that spreads through the streets. People in the crowd had to cover their eyes to keep watching.

T Tifa tied her hair back to keep it out of her face before leaning over to Yuffie and whispering, "I think Reeve wants to stay and see everyone after the meeting."

"That sounds nice."

"You should talk to him about your boss."

Yuffie stuffed her hands into her pockets. "No, I shouldn't. Reeve'll probably just take his side."

"Come on, Yuffie. Reeve's not like that. He knows you. He trusts you."

"And that's why he threw me into the Hunters, because he trusts me," she muttered to herself, and she felt Tifa staring. She hated when Tifa stared. It was always warm, always comforting, always accepting. No matter what Yuffie did or said, Tifa was always there for her, and what made it so bad was that, deep down, Yuffie knew Tifa was genuinely trying to help.

"He could help," Tifa said, calmly.

"I don't need help," Yuffie responded, not so calm.

"Fine." Tifa touched Yuffie's shoulder and squeezed her gently. "Then, I'm glad you're taking time off to recover."

"Only because they blocked my onsite password to everything." Yuffie crossed her arms, sulked. "I'll be back in once I figure out how to hack it."

"And after you've recovered."

"I've been drinking Cure magic like its water for a week now. I'm fine."

"But you haven't been sleeping."

The Airship's roar swelled and interrupted them, much to Yuffie's delight. It groaned and roared as it lifted into the air. From one of the propellers, a stream of smoke appeared and a flash of fire. The entire thing shook as it lifted above the nearby buildings, the engines whining so loud that it shook the windows nearby.

Everyone covered their eyes to see it again the sun.

"Wow," Marlene cooed, and Tifa smiled at her.

"It's great, isn't it?"

"Yup! And they're putting them everywhere, so papa can come back and visit whenever he wants, right?"

Tifa nodded in response.

The airship rose, higher and higher, clearing even the tallest building and finding home in the air. The black smoke grew thicker and dark as it ascended, and now it created a smoldering wake as the airship shined like a shooting star.

Yuffie squinted. She could smell fire. A series of pops, like firecrackers echoing inside of a tin, and the left propeller erupted into flame. Shrapnel and screws came loose, littering the streets, crushing cars and buildings beneath.

The crowd screamed and scattered as shards of hot steel rained down from the airship. The smoke was a plum now, gushing from the open, blazing wound. _The Ricard_ scraped a building, tearing glass as it descended, exposing the framework to the city.

Yuffie and Tifa pushed their way through the crowd, dragging Marlene and Denzel with them to the stage. Reeve met them there and took the children into his care as the airship made a graceless descent. Another bomb went off, on the other side of the ship, which was tilting for a nose dive.

Yuffie looked at Tifa. "Hey, Tifa, you been working out lately?"

"What?"

"Remember Cloud-tossing?" Yuffie grinned and nodded at the sinking airship.

"Yuffie, this sounds like a bad idea."

Yuffie produced, from her pocket, a green sphere—like a large marble—that gleamed in the sunlight. "Just throw me already."

With a deep breath, Tifa hopped from the stage and held her arms out, hands folded together. Yuffie took a ten-foot sprint and leaped, landing in Tifa's hand. They dug in. The asphalt cracked beneath Tifa, who hurled Yuffie with all of her might. The small, Wutai woman rocketed through the air, like a bullet through the smoke.

Yuffie met the airship with both feet and covered her eyes as she passed through the bridge windows. She sailed through the bridge itself, catching herself on a hand-rail to keep from flying through the other side. Her inertia pulled the rail apart.

Cid, who held the control tightly in a desperate effort to keep the airship aloft—cigar still in his mouth—shouted, "Yuffie? Th' hell you doin'?"

"Saving your ass!"

Yuffie squeezed the Materia tightly and closed her eyes. Green light filled the bridge interior. A sphere of energy spread through the helm and caught the ship in its net. The helm slowed, its descent eased. The rear, still under the same gravity, came apart and crumpled to the ground before the rest of it landed lightly, still intact.

Yuffie winced when she opened her eyes. The light bleeding in through the fractured glass made her head throb and her stomach churn. She could smell smoke and little else. Around her, the crew was stirring, working hard to help each other to standing or to evacuate the ship.

She stood and braced herself against the railing. Using her Gravity Materia, Yuffie was able to slow the bridge's descent, but she could not save the ship. The crash landing had left the floor slanted and the wind shield fractured. The street around her was littered with debris, while the ships aft burned a short distance away. There were bodies there, ones Yuffie would rather not see.

She staggered her way to the open air and coughed for breath. Her face was black with smoke and soot. Cid walked among the surviving crew, checking them while she chewed an unlit cigarette. Yuffie went to him, wiping her face as best she could on the way.

"Goddamn." That was his greeting, delivered with a solemn breath. "The hell is goin' on here?"

Yuffie struggled to stay standing. The world continued to spin, and the fresh air was making her feel lightheaded. She braced against the ship for support and eyed the street. There were cars in the distance. The W.R.O. in attendance at the ceremony were already doing what they could to help civilians. Sirens wailed.

Yuffie coughed until it hurt and then held herself. Cid clapped his hand against her back. "You okay, kid?"

Yuffie straightened herself and pushed him away. "Are you?"

He rubbed his nose, chewed his cigarette more. "'M fine. Pissed off. What kind of $ *% is going on here? Spent goddamn years working on this goddamn thing, and now it's just a scrap in the &*# ing street!" He kicked the airships frame. Something shifted inside as he screamed and clutched his foot.

"But you don't know what happened to it?"

"'F I did, would I be standin' here?!"

Yuffie took another deep breath and forced herself to standing under her own power. Her head was clearing slowly, but her body continued to hurt. Cid watched her with concern.

"You good to be movin'?"

"I've got to go. I've got to..." Yuffie's phone rang. She answered. "What?"

"Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Shelke?" Yuffie staggered away from Cid and across the street, finding sanctuary against an alley wall. "Shelke, what in the world is going on here?"

"Sabotage."

"Yeah, thanks, I oculdn't figure that out on my own?" She covered her free ear as the siren grew closer. The W.R.O. was arriving in full now, and people were shouting orders. "How? Why? What can you tell me?"

"I've traced the Lotus broadcast."

"The Lotus what? How long was I out?"

"I am uncertain," Shelke said, "But for clarity, after the airship crashed, the Emerald Lotus made a broadcast and took responsibility for the attack. They have set off bombs across the city and are declaring an official war against the W.R.O."

Yuffie stumbled away from the wreckage, toward the far end of the alley. She looked back toward the city and saw four pillars of smoke, evenly spread across the city. "Oh, no." She rested against a nearby storefront to keep her legs from giving out. "You said you traced it?"

"Yes. I've already sent the location to your phone. Can you intercept them?"

"Of course," Yuffie said. "And can you keep this between us?"

"You have ten minutes."

"Right." Shelke hung up, and Yuffie checked her phone. Afterward, she pocketed her phone and did some light stretches. "Ten minutes," she said, a grin on her face. "That'll be more than enough time to clean up this mess."

The streets Yuffie took were empty as she passed. Shelke sent her a map leading across the city to an old Midgar sewage system that was abandoned long ago. When she arrived, she found fetid water and refuse pooled beneath a long, hollow tube of rusted steel, an unfinished relic still struggling against time. All around the water there were footprints left in dirt.

Yuffie climbed the tubes and entered their depths. She followed through winding curves, breathing shallowly of the stink of rotten feces and stagnant water. Fungus grew along the walls and led her even deeper in. Narrow walkways blocked her path, and she had to shimmy across them, her body tight against the wall, trying hard to ignore the cold, slick feeling against her back.

The deeper she went, the stronger the smell of decay and damp. Holes in the walls allowed faded light. The tubes went up, and she had to climb hand and knee, trading her phone between her hands to follow the map inside, and her journey came to a stop in the heart of the sewer network.

The network itself met at a large, domed room with a circular, stone-laid floor. Water flowed around the floor, crisscrossing under steel grates blackened by age. Yellowed light bulbs buzzed overhead, casting a dull light. The air was stale and, at the far end of the room, another set of tunnels, wider than the last, were exposed behind a broken wall.

Lotus soldiers were at work in the center, packing as Lotus himself oversaw the activities. A tall, tan man stood beside him, hair dark, sideburns looking like a wild mane. He was enormous, almost beat-like, and he was first to notice Yuffie's approached.

The man tapped Lotus on the shoulder, and Lotus turned to regard her. His cloak flourished with his movement. "And so, they sent a dog to sniff us out. Congratulations."

"THEY didn't send anyone," Yuffie said. She reached into her back pocket and produced a small switch blade. "I'm here on my own."

"Seems you've chewed through your leash, then. Let's hope you haven't gone rabbid."

"The dog thing is getting real old, pal."

The tall man beside Lotus laughed. It was a deep laugh, chest-rattling. "At least he hasn't called you a bitch, yet."

Yuffie flipped the blade, held it backhand, and ignored the man. Her gaze was fixed on Lotus' mask. "So, you decided to forego the protecting the innocent thing."

"I decided to make myself known," Lotus said, serene. "And what about you? Shouldn't you be up there tending to the wounded and distraught?"

"Not my job to clean up your mess. I'd rather kick your ass and drag you up there to do it yourself."

"You always did imagine yourself to be the hero, didn't you? But you're not. You're just Yuffie Kisaragi, a little girl playing at saving the world while you hold onto the coat tails of your betters." He laughed, smirked behind his mask. "You haven't changed at all."

Soldiers gather around him, some carrying weapons, some baring only fists. Lotus stood straight, body obscured, hidden behind his cloak. He appeared at ease. The man beside him towered over the group, his big, sculpted arms folded over his chest as he watched her. Like Lotus, he was entirely at ease.

"I'll show you play!" Yuffie threw her knife before charging. One of the soldiers intercepted it, knocking it away while another stepped in with a wide stance. When in range, Yuffie leaped and knocked the second soldier away with a kick to the head. In the air, she spiraled, bringing her foot into the other soldiers chest. He fell backward, toward Lotus, but was intercepted by the big man.

The big man held the soldier momentarily before tossing him to the side. Lotus looked at him while Yuffie made a quick retreat, watching them as she hopped away. Lotus said, "Hollis?"

The tall man, Hollis, flashed a feral grin. "Now, now, Mr. Lotus, you're the big man in charge here. We can't have you dirtying your hands on her." He flexed his big hands, popping his knuckles. "Besides, she didn't find us on her own. She might be the first one here, but she won't be the last. Leave me to handle this."

"Are you sure?"

Hollis' grin broadened, his eyes went wide. He looked more bestial with each passing moment. "This is what you hired me for."

Lotus nodded and turned away, his cloak fanning. "Right Everyone, back up and follow me. Hollis," he stopped on his way out, "Take care." Lotus leaped down and disappeared into the hole in the wall.

Hollis sauntered forward, a big man standing nearly two-feet taller than Yuffie. He could wrap his hands around her midriff and join them, if he chose. "Sorry," he said in his deep, harsh voice, "But boss man is busy. I'll be handling you myself, but don't let that make you sloppy. I've seen you in action before, and let me tell you this: this'll be an uphill battle for you."

Yuffie glared up at him, hands on her hips. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy wiping the floor with you."

Hollis laughed. "Names Hollis Ramsey. I could you could call me an enforcer of sorts. See, my job is when people try to get rid of the boss, I get rid of them, first." He moved into a tight stance, legs close together, arms tight to his body. Even coiled like this, he remained enormous. "Which means now I got to get rid of you."

"Trust me," Yuffie said, slinking, unfolding, "I'll take care of you, first."

"That's the spirit! Finally, someone ready for a fight for once. So, come on! Show me the strength that saw you though the Jenova War."

Yuffie charged up the center, her footsteps echoing around the chamber. When close, she leapt, spun, and came at him with a powerful kick, which he met with his big, meaty forearm. Using her momentum, she kicked off of his arm, flipping over him, and came to a stop behind him.

She spun, kicking at his leg to destabilize him, but it was like kicking a solid wall of granite. His muscles were solid, unyielding, and her foot bounced off. He turned on her with a smile and waited, which only made her angrier. She punched him in the face, as hard as she could, repeatedly, until she felt blood, and then retreated. Both were wet and red with blood, but Yuffie didn't know whose blood it was.

Hollis laughed and followed her retreat. "That the best you can do?" He wiped away the blood, revealing a swollen nose and lips. His sideburns were bristled, giving him the appearance of a wild animal. Lunging, he grabbed her by the shoulders and held her in place while driving his knee forward into her gut.

It felt like a cannon blast. All of the air left her in a hurry, and she coughed and staggered away, struggling to stand. She tried to kick at him, but he merely seized her once more and tossed her across the room. She landed on her back and rolled once, onto her face.

The battle stopped, briefly, and Yuffie caught her breath. It hurt, what he was doing to her, but it wasn't anything she hadn't suffered before. Pushing herself to standing, she steadied herself, centered herself. The battle was nothing new to her, and it was hollow. He had strength, and she had speed, but she would never be able to whittle him down fast enough.

Tifa came to mind, tall, strong, swift, and Yuffie thoguht again of the Death Blow. It was too slow to work on Lotus, but Hollis was different, and she was never afraid to try again. Planting her feet, she closed her eyes and breathed through the pain until it was far from her mind.

She cleared her mind, pushing away the good and bad, leaving room only for the blow, for the air she breathed, and when she opened her eyes she could see him clearly. Energy suffused her bones. Every ounce of her, she knew, would have to go into her fist. Each step, each breath, and one forceful, powerful strike. She charged, and he met her with a humorless grin. It wasn't bloodlust, but undiluted rage that powered him. For a moment, Yuffie thought to retreat, but she didn't have time. If she didn't end the fight, then she would never leave the area alive.

When she entered range, she planted her on feet, and she threw herself into the punch. All of her followed through, all of her became a fist. She struck him, at full force, in the solar plexus, and she felt the world move.

Hollis' grin held. He remained firmly rooted in place. With all of the force in her tiny body she couldn't move him an inch and so was moved instead. There were scuffs where her feet were, and her fist was bleeding.

He breathed, and then laughed. "I have to admit, that was a pretty good punch, but I don't think you did it right." He said that, and then he hit her. Lotus was fast and precise, like a bullet. Hollis was a wrecking ball. Normally, she would see it coming. Normally, she would dodge. This time, she was dug in, feet planted, hand burning. She saw him swing, followed the movement, but didn't have the time to react.

With one blood, she was knocked to her knees, bloodied. Then, he kicked her and sent her spinning and skipping across the floor like a stone on water. Her entire body was numb from the pain, and she bounced into the wall before coming to a stop.

Hollis sauntered toward her, his big body blurred and obscuring the light like a great shadow. He towered over her, like death, and stared down at her while she tried desperately to stand. She wasn't sure what she looked like, scrambling and struggling, but it seemed to amuse him. "What you did earlier, I think it goes something like this..."

Move, she told herself, but her body wouldn't listen. She had to hold the wall to keep herself standing, and she was too hurt to move, too weak to block. She stared, as he braced himself, and he punched her so hard in the stomach that she went through the wall. The brickwork crumbled around her, and she was left limp, hanging from his enormous hand.

He dropped her and dusted off his enormous hands. Her world was fading, and she prepared for the ground's cool embrace. Instead, she found strong arms, soft and firm, that carried her away. There was a swirl of brown hair, an encouraging whisper.

The last thing Yuffie saw was Tifa, charging Hollis, and Hollis losing ground.


End file.
